Chelsea: Pragmatic loan with a potentially important payoff for Michy Batshuayi

Michy Batshuayi was in the rumour mill with two London teams before agreeing on a loan with a third in the final hour of the window. Having been adjudged unfit for Chelsea, he will nevertheless be able to help the Blues – and himself – from Selhurst Park.

Michy Batshuayi should have been one of Chelsea’s easier loan placements. Despite plummeting out of the rotation at Valencia his performances at Chelsea, Borussia Dortmund and Belgium demonstrated his abilities with Champions League-calibre clubs. He had been in the rumour mill with Everton and West Ham for much of January, before Tottenham and Real Betis came up on deadline day. Nearly at the death – like so many of his goals – he agreed to terms with Crystal Palace.

The hold-up with many of those other clubs was the money. He supposedly was asking for £160,000 per week in addition to the receiving club picking up agent fees and other assorted costs. These demands nearly saw him join the Danny Drinkwater and Gary Cahill program of watching the second half of the season pass him by from the bench.

Many Chelsea fans and even more Crystal Palace fans pointed to Palace’s remaining fixtures as reason to celebrate his loan. Crystal Palace still have to face four of the top six teams: Manchester United, Manchester City, Tottenham and Arsenal.

Palace and Roy Hodgson already have a reputation as spoilers. Increasing their goal production via Batshuayi will raise their chances of influencing the race for the top-four. Any points Palace can nick from Tottenham, Arsenal and Manchester United will go straight into Chelsea’s pocket.

As fun as it is to talk about Special Agent Michy (he did help Chelsea land Christian Pulisic, after all, right?), this loan reinforces the paradoxes around the Belgian. He apparently is good enough to score goals indirectly on Chelsea’s behalf against the top four teams, but he is not good enough for even a cursory look at what he could do for Chelsea directly.

Even by Maurizio Sarri’s standards, Batshuayi’s trial this summer was a summary judgment. Whereas Drinkwater, Cahill and the rest – even other loanees – had a few weeks to think they maybe could overcome Sarri’s snap decisions, Batshuayi had no such chance. He reported to the club after the World Cup, and almost immediately shipped out to Valencia. His loan started on August 10.

Chelsea’s need for a striker became increasingly apparent through December and January. This coincided with Batshuayi’s stock falling at Valencia. Valencia were looking to offload the Belgian right as Chelsea needed someone like him most. Yet he was never an option. Nothing coming out of Cobham suggested that Maurizio Sarri saw any role or possibility for Batshuayi, not even as backup to the backup in the worst-case scenario. There were more rumours of Chelsea recalling Tammy Abraham than accepting Batshuayi back into the squad.

Instead, as we all know, the Blues made Gonzalo Higuain their centre of gravity atop the forward line and left Batshuayi in limbo until January 31.

The loan to Crystal Palace will be interesting for one main reason: Roy Hodgson. Unlike Maurizio Sarri’s cult-fueled mystique, Hodgson has a strong but under-appreciated record of actually training and teaching his players. He truly educates his players in football. Ruben Loftus-Cheek is the most recent and familiar beneficiary from Chelsea’s perspective. Without last season at Crystal Palace, Loftus-Cheek would likely not have made the World Cup squad and would not have even the limited role he holds at Chelsea. That is down not only to simple playing time, but his growth under Hodgson’s instruction.

Two Chelsea coaches and Valencia’s Marcelino have not rated Michy Batshuayi beyond their initial impressions. Batshuayi rewarded Conte’s faith in him with key goals off the bench, but he was never able to put himself into consideration for the starting spot. Marcelino tried and gave up, after Maurizio Sarri did not even try. Only Dortmund’s Peter Bosz had an immediate rapport and placed immediate faith in the Belgian.

Whatever their sticking points were, they were significant enough for multiple coaches to decelerate what seemed like a promising career trajectory. Removing those hindrances from his game is an increasingly urgent task.

Loaning Michy Batshuayi to Crystal Palace is surely nothing but pragmatism from both sides. But it brings an incidental opportunity in the long-term for Batshuayi. If he absorbs what Hodgson offers and grows as a player, he could break through his current perceived ceiling – whatever that ceiling is, it really makes little sense to us – and secure a starting spot in a Champions League club.

After Batshuayi spends a few months with Hodgson, perhaps whoever is managing Chelsea come the summer will recognize what he has done and spare us another season with 30-year old strikers offering a reprieve from the false-nine. Especially if the Belgian can help Chelsea secure the top-four with well-timed goals against Arsenal, Tottenham and Manchester United.