4. Three academy players stalling contract renewals
This news would come as a concern to many Chelsea fans all around the world as three highly-rated academy players are stalling on their contract renewal. The aforementioned players are Lewis Bate (aged 18), Valentino Livramento (aged 18), and Myles Peart Harris (aged 18) whose contracts will expire in June 2022. There are no concrete reports as to why they are not signing a new contract but one can easily make a guess and can say that maybe they don’t see a clear pathway to the first team.
What I feel is that this situation is more to do with the players rather than the club. It just seems that very talented players are taking the decision of their personal growth into their own hands rather than trusting the club’s approach. This is something you can blame neither the players nor the club for. A player has to trust the club’s decision when it comes to personal growth especially with a club like Chelsea whose style of developing players has been very effective. All these three players had an impressive season at the youth level with Lewis Bate playing as a defensive midfielder, Valentino Livramento playing as a right midfielder and a right-back making 26 appearances with three goals and 10 assists, and Myles Peart Harris playing in a variety of positions in the attacking half of the pitch, making 23 appearances with 11 goals and six assists.
These players have been attracting interest from various Premier League and Championship teams which can provide them with more opportunities of playing right now. One player who is currently trusting the club’s process is Henry Lawrence and he is being linked with a loan move to either a League Two or a League One team. His impressive stats of four goals and one assist in 19 appearances as a full-back has caught some eyes.
What are your thoughts on the last week of the window? Let us know in the comments and on Twitter!