Talent identification is one of the hardest aspects of football, especially when it comes to young players. Chelsea has seemingly perfected this craft over the years though. The Cobham Academy continues to pump out star after star. Europe’s top five leagues are littered with the next generation of footballing greats that got their starts with the Blues. England’s got Conor Gallagher, Marc Guehi, Mason Mount, Reece James and Tino Livramento. Germany’s got Jamal Musiala. Italy’s got Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori. Spain’s got Andreas Christensen. Despite all of this evidence—and mountains more—that Chelsea can develop players with the best of them, the Blues’ scouts still get it wrong from time to time.
There are countless examples of times Chelsea overvalued young players and their talents. On the flip side, Declan Rice continues to show the Blues that they messed up many years ago as he tears the Premier League up en route to becoming one of the best midfielders in the world. There are examples of Chelsea getting it both right and wrong, those cannot be allowed to influence decisions made in the present day. It’s now become apparent that the past successes and failures are not influencing the Blues’ decision making now. Chelsea has come to the shocking conclusion that it is time to move on from one of its talented, young defenders.
Chelsea is making a shocking decision to sell a talented, young centerback
Nizaar Kinsella of the Evening Standard broke the news earlier this week when he reported that Chelsea has agreed to sell Xavier Mbuyamba. This comes as a total surprise considering that the Dutchman was seen by many as “the next Virgil van Dijk.” This is—of course—huge boots to fill, but everything about Mbuyamba’s game indicated that he was headed straight for the top.
The 20-year-old joined the Blues from Barcelona back in 2020. He’s spent the last few seasons in the Chelsea youth ranks, primarily with the U23s. Despite his status as an academy player, Mbuyamba has been called up to train with Thomas Tuchel’s first teams on numerous occasions. While updates regarding his development have been few and far between during his time in west London, it was this reality that kept fans believing in his talent. Unfortunately, Mbuyamba’s been extremely unlucky on the injury front during his time with the Blues. He suffered a torn meniscus during the 2020/21 campaign, which saw him miss around six months.
Nevertheless, Mbuyamba bounced back from the brutal leg injury, appearing in 25 matches last campaign. The six-foot-five centerback was likely to go out on loan next season, which is one of the reasons that Chelsea is essentially deciding to cut ties with its prospect. New FIFA loan regulations are set to kick in soon, which has seen the Blues cut down the size of their so-called loan army drastically over the last two seasons. Mbuyamba is just the latest casualty of this code.
These new policies will also have an impact on the first team. Fringe players can no longer be loaned out without regulations, so Chelsea will have to either find a place for them in Tuchel’s squad or accept heavy financial losses and offload them. In addition to parting ways with Mbuyamba, the Blues are expected to help both Matt Miazga and Baba Rahman find new permanent homes this offseason. The roster reshaping is far from over, but the decision regarding Mbuyamba’s future is simply the first stunning decision during a summer that will surely feature many surprises for the fans to stomach.
Do you think the Blues are making the right decision with Mbuyamba? Let us know your thoughts in the comments or on Twitter!