Musonda may face early exit

EXCLUSIVE

CHELSEA are considering cutting Charly Musonda’s Celtic loan short after growing unhappy over the playmaker’s lack of games. And the situation could have repercussions for Brendan Rodgers’ hopes of ever taking the manager’s job at Stamford Bridge. Rodgers has strong links to the London club where he was a youth coach and reserve-team boss before

enjoying success as a manager with Swansea, Liverpool and now Celtic.

He signed Musonda on an 18-month loan deal in January but the 21-year-old striker has started only two games since the move to Scotland and none since mid-February.

The young Belgian was not in the matchday squad against Rangers last weekend and if there is no prospect of this changing, Chelsea’s loan team will explore the idea of calling him back in the summer.

It has also been noted that this is not the first time Chelsea’s young players have wasted time on loan with Rodgers despite verbal assurances they would be exposed to plenty of competitive action. Josh McEachran barely featured while on loan at Swansea and Victor Moses, now an established part of Chelsea’s first team, made little impact when on loan at Liverpool.

Rodgers has said he ‘would love to work in the Premier League again one day’ but has much work to do if he is to charm Roman Abramovich and the board of directors at the Bridge.

They are still sore about public comments he made in 2012, claiming he was not interested in the Chelsea job because he was ‘trying to build a career and not destroy it’.

Antonio Conte, having won the title in his first season, is set to leave Stamford Bridge after the FA Cup final. Luis Enrique, Max Allegri and Maurizio Sarri are among the leading candidates to succeed him.