From Beever-Jones to Thompson: Analyzing Chelsea Women’s youngsters on loan

Loans within the Women’s Super League are incredibly uncommon, but for Chelsea, Emma Hayes wants to get her talented academy players a chance to play football regularly.

Some paths into playing time with the Blues in the WSL are more straightforward than others, but with some of the roster going out of contract, next season could be the year for some of the younger stars to find a way into the squad. Before the season kicked off, Chelsea had five players out on loan in both the top-flight, and second-tier of women’s football in England. Each one of them looks to play a significant role in their team’s successes this season whether it is contributing to the goal department or simply being a stable force in the backline.

Jorja Fox, Charlotte Wardlaw, and Aggie Beever-Jones are the first trio of CFC Women’s players in the same season to go out on loan in the WSL. All three of them went out on loan in the Championship last season, including Wardlaw contributing to the eventual champions, Liverpool with 18 appearances and one goal in the 2022/23 season. Wardlaw hopes to make her debut in the WSL this weekend, after having been unable to participate in the last fixture against her parent club. With Wardlaw knowing the system that Matt Beard is trying to execute, Wardlaw hopes to build on her 10 starts in the Championship, especially with the Reds’ leading scorer last season, Leanne Kiernan out for several months due to an ankle injury she suffered in the previous match against Chelsea.