Michael Emanelo, upon his resignation, said that he was proud of Chelsea’s loan system and went on to add that Andreas Christensen was proof that the system worked wonders. He went on to add that Jake Clarke-Salter and Fikayo Tomori will soon follow in on the footsteps of the young Dan.
This was his statement. “Christensen will be a superb player. I see on a regular basis that Jake Clarke-Salter and Fikayo Tomori are going to be outstanding players. They are young and I don’t know if they decide to get fat. There’s nothing I can do about that. If they continue the way that they are, they will make it because they have great talent, there’s no doubt about that.”
“There is a coordinated effort from everybody to want to make this happen. Not just because it feels good, and it is nice to have a backbone the fans can relate to and support. But with the investment we are making and where we think the game is going and the competition that we have, you can’t just buy your way out of trouble all the time”.
While Christensen’s development testifies Emanelo’s comment, his statement is far from complete.Chelsea has produced excellent youth products over the last few years. These kids have won every major trophy at the youth level. They have then been loaned out for further development.
After that, however, things went horribly wrong. Christensen is probably the only second player after John Terry to rise through the club ranks and the only one in Emanelo’s ten-year tenure at the club.
Chelsea has lost fine young products in the process, many they have gone on to rue. It now seems that the Blues could be on their way to regret losing out on yet another player.
It was announced recently that Chelsea has sanctioned the loan of Josimar Quintero. The Ecuadorian midfielder joined Chelsea back in the summer of 2014 and went on to win the 2016 UEFA Youth League with the Blues. He has made 20 appearances for the development squad scoring 5 goals.
The 20-year-old spent the first half of this season on loan with Rostov in Russia and now has headed to Real Betis in Spain until the end of the season. He follows the steps of Charly Musonda who also had a successful spell with the Spanish side while on loan from Chelsea. Although he has only gone out on loan, Chelsea has once again shown their unwillingness to trust in their young players and instead of turning to other clubs to help develop the young Blues players. The question remains for Emanelo and his successor, how long will such a strategy work with criticism flying in for obvious reasons all around Europe.
