Chelsea’s lost wonderkids: Lucas Piazon’s “New Kaka” mantle

What Went Wrong? 

Piazon’s failure to break through for Chelsea can be summed up by lack of stability – both at the club and in his professional career. Andre Villas-Boas spoke highly of him, Di Matteo trusted him enough to include him in the Champions League squad, and Rafael Benitez gave him his Premier League debut. Yet, when the youngster returned to the club in summer 2013 from Malaga, none of the three managers was there. Instead, the club had brought back Jose Mourinho.

The Portuguese’s return to Stamford Bridge was significant. He had developed a reputation for winning trophies and breaking the pre-existing status quo – something he had already accomplished once in England. It was a statement sent out to the football world by the club and the owner, Roman Abramovich. They wanted to win again, win consistently, and win at all costs – no matter the collateral damage.

In retrospect, bigger players than Piazon turned up in the collateral damage column, the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah, Romelu Lukaku, and Juan Mata. However, the loss was difficult to comprehend amid the buzz of title celebrations.

Not willing to give up on Piazon yet, or perhaps not finding an appropriate buyer, Chelsea drafted him into what came to be known as the ‘loan army’ – a collection of players hoping to get another chance to play for the club yet recognizing that that chance may never arrive.

For Piazon, one loan after another followed, For Chelsea, one manager after another. The chance for stability, for both the player and the club, kept diminishing as each year passed.

Nonetheless, a lack of opportunities was not something Piazon had to worry about. He went to seven different clubs on loan and played over a hundred matches. He showed promise but never enough. He produced numbers but never enough. However, one has to understand that moving across the continent, year after year, and at such a young age can have a big effect mentally. As such, it is not difficult to sympathize with the Brazilian.

One must also remember that Chelsea was a different place back then. While the club has recently bucked the trend of overlooking their young players, that wasn’t the case previously. The ‘win at all cost’ mantra had a significant cost, often in the form of a youngster’s hopes and dreams. We cannot be certain that Piazon would have even got an opportunity to play for the first team, had he been playing at his best.

What we know for certain is that the door closed for Piazon in 2013 and it never opened again.