Currently at Chelsea, you would classify Josh Acheampong as being their fourth or fifth choice centre back, and fourth choice right back, through no fault of his own, since his breakout into the Chelsea first team in 2024, you could never confidently say that he would have been a pencilled-in name on the team sheet.
However, with Chelsea's current defensive struggles under Xabi Alonso in the early stages of their season, and the festive period just around the corner, Alonso might be forced to make some rotations within his defence, especially if they keep leaking chances and goals, and Acheampong could be a beneficiary of that.
In England's U21 Euro 2027 qualifier against Kazakhstan, Acheampong scored and set up another, a finish his club strikers would have been proud of. He played centre-back throughout the game, but although he wasn't used there last night, he can also fill in at right-back if needed.
That's where he could prove his worth to Xabi Alonso, with versatility to play multiple positions across the back line, although he is flexible in terms of where he is comfortable playing. Alonso would be more suited to him and would prefer to play him as a right centre-back, as when the right wing-back wants to get forward, he has cover behind him, and with Acheampong being able to transition between the centre-back and right-back positions, it can only be seen as a positive for Alonso.
Acheampong started the season off with getting good minutes, playing the full 90 in Premier League games against Fulham and Arsenal, but just played 41 minutes across the next three games, with Alonso seemingly moving away from him being in his best XI.
There have been talks of Acheampong being offered a new contract to try and keep him at the club, as they view him as someone they want to be a part of their future, but a new contract alone won't keep him happy forever. With the new contract, he would expect to be getting better minutes and more game time.
But one thing is for certain that if you give Acheampong the security and the confidence that he is one of your key players and the manager trusts him to be consistent, then he will develop close to his full potential with the right people coaching him.
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