Chelsea are thoroughly dismantling and selling the pieces of their world-beating youth sides from 2010-2015. Nathaniel Chalobah is considering wresting control of his future and asking to be the next to leave.
Nathaniel Chalobah has spent most of the last decade around players like Dominic Solanke, Bertrand Traore and Nathan Ake. First they were part of Chelsea’s academy teams that won a string of FA Youth Cups, Under-21 Premier League titles and UEFA Youth League titles. They then moved on together to the Chelsea loan army WhatsApp group.
Chalobah is one of the few players from those youth sides still at Chelsea. However, he only has a nominally greater chance of being on Chelsea’s first team this season than those players who are no longer at the club. Solanke and Ake will likely be Premier League regulars this season at Liverpool and Bournemouth, respectively. Traore will be a starter at Lyon.
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Other players from Chalobah’s academy generation will either continue on in the loan army, such as Tammy Abraham, or continue in limbo like Lewis Baker. Chalobah is too old, experienced, valuable and ready to play first team Premier League football to tolerate either another loan or another season of 159 league minutes. This is even more the case considering how highly Gareth Southgate rates Chalobah ahead of the 2018 World Cup.
The Independent reported that Nathaniel Chalobah is returning to Stamford Bridge this week for injury treatment and to discuss his future. The club and Antonio Conte apparently want him to stay, but nondescript gauzy feelings will not satisfy the English midfielder.
On the heels of the Independent’s story, SkySports reports that Watford – the first of Chalobah’s six(!) loan clubs – are interested in purchasing him. Chalobah played for Watford when they were in the Championship, scoring five goals in 42 appearances.
Barring any serious misfortune in the transfer market or injury reports, Chalobah’s place in the depth chart will not improve this season. Tiemoue Bakayoko will take Nemanja Matic’s spot as N’Golo Kante’s regular midfield partner. Matic will likely leave for Manchester United. Chalobah will then remain in fourth place behind Kante, Bakayoko and Cesc Fabregas.
Chelsea offers young players like Chalobah and his departed brethren the opportunity to dip their toes in European competition, take the pitch sporadically in the Premier League and raise trophies over their head in May. Nathan Ake will not have those European or trophy-lifting moments at Bournemouth. Dominic Solanke will have many opportunities at Liverpool, save for winning trophies.
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Watford offers Chalobah much the same package that attracted Ake to Bournemouth. The package comes down to one thing: consistent playing time in the starting XI. Bournemouth has the added benefit of vision and ambition under Eddie Howe, while Watford are still putting their house in order.
Chelsea’s academy graduates are accustomed to winning and celebrating titles. Chalobah, Ake, Traore and the rest surely want those moments at the highest level. But they also want them on their terms.
They want to celebrate knowing that they played a part in those triumphs as they did at the academy. They do not want to win as spectators, training partners and bit players who squeaked out the minimum appearances to warrant a winners’ medal. Beyond the personal satisfaction, they know that being on the bench for a title-winning season does little for future contracts, transfer fees and national team call-ups.
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Nathaniel Chalobah surely understands these trade-offs, and has talked to his friends who have moved on or are at a similar juncture. A Chalobah transfer, which would at one point have stoked anger and sadness, will now just cause more resigned acceptance among fans and – ominously – Chelsea’s current crop of youth.