Real Madrid wanted me ... maybe I should have gone
A Champions League debut at 17 but now Josh McEachran is going back to Stamford Bridge with Brentford
It is seven years since England defeated France in the semi-finals of the Under 17 European Championship. For France, a young, gangly Paul Pogba bestrode midfield. Pogba’s direct opponents were Josh McEachran and Ross Barkley.
Pogba is now a global superstar. For McEachran, it is an awkward comparison, brought into sharper focus as we meet in a Portakabin at Brentford’s Osterley training ground.
‘i was definitely ahead of those players back then,’ McEachran says.
‘i’d heard of Pogba but he wasn’t really around the first team, he was around the Manchester United youth team and reserves. same as Barkley (at Everton).’
McEachran is right. He was ahead of the game. scouted by Chelsea as a seven-year- old in Oxford, he had developed into one of the most prodigiously gifted teenage midfielders in the world.
He was training with the first team by 15, travelling to games by 16. When McEachran made his debut for Chelsea in the Champions League at 17, the expectation was not that he would return to stamford Bridge as a Championship player with Brentford seven years later, as he will do in the FA Cup on saturday.
‘Real Madrid and Manchester United came in when i was 16,’ he says, grinning. ‘i could not believe it when my agent said “Real Madrid want you”. Unbelievable, isn’t it?
‘Madrid had the contract waiting for me and they wanted all my family to fly over to sign a five-year contract, but i said, “No, i want to stay at Chelsea”.
‘i believed that i was going to make it (at Chelsea). When i made my debut i thought, “Ah, that was a good choice for me to say no to Real Madrid,” but looking back now maybe i should have (gone).’
McEachran made 17 appearances in a breakthrough season under Carlo Ancelotti. ‘i was so close. We were 1-0 down to Man City away and he brought me on. He clearly thought highly of me.
‘then unfortunately Carlo left, Andre Villas-Boas came in. He brought in his own players. it’s hard for a 17-year-old to earn that trust again.’
Following Ancelotti’s departure, he made only five more Chelsea appearances before leaving in a £500,000 deal to Brentford last summer. Antonio Conte became Chelsea’s 12th manager in 13 years, which creates a culture that demands results and limits opportunities for young talent.
‘it’s hard, isn’t it?,’ McEachran shrugs. ‘John terry is still the last one who has come through and played consecutive seasons (for the first team).
‘Managers are under so much pressure, so to chuck a young English lad in, it’s not easy. Or you sign a foreign player with experience. At 17 or 18, i was good enough to play for Chelsea. i still think i could play for Chelsea. it’s just about the opportunity. You need confidence. i had that with Carlo.’
As with all young Chelsea players, there were loans. A lot of loans. ‘i was literally going all around dE England,’l d’h he says, laughing.l hi ‘swansea didn’t work out. Brendan Rodgers had been ringing, saying “Come to swansea, play week-in, week- out”. then he didn’t really play me. He didn’t explain why.
‘it did knock me back because it left me a bit uncertain. sometimes, i wasn’t even on the bench. i was in the stands.
‘then it was Boro. then where did i go?’ Watford, Wigan, Vitesse Arnhem… ‘Yeah, it’s a bit unsettling. i do think they have a plan for young players… but there are a lot of them, aren’t there!
‘i knew until i proved myself out on loan, i wasn’t going to come back and play. i wasn’t really doing th that,t so you’re’ nott goingi t to walklk into one of the best teams in the world. You have to earn it.
‘i do think the club wants to see a young English lad break through. they are desperate for it. Nathaniel Chalobah is getting another chance. He has always been a top player. i am hoping he does.’
there have been accusations that McEachran over-indulged. At 18, he signed a five-year contract worth £2m a season. there were showbiz headlines about a Coronation Street girlfriend and top- of-therange cars.
‘We got that thrown at us a lot, the Chelsea youngsters, the Man City youngsters. All the players i know from Chelsea who got a lot given to them young, it didn’t spoil them.
‘When i signed the contract, i knew i wasn’t an established Chelsea first- team player, so i needed to prove myself. that wasn’t the case at all.’
in the summer of 2015, a clean break was needed.
‘ For 15 years, Chelsea was a massive part of my life,’ he says. ‘But i just couldn’t really see myself playing.’
Cesc Fabregas had been signed, another superstar in McEachran’s position. ‘Yeah, so it’s like, brilliant…’
He smiles. ‘ i did a pre- season with Jose Mourinho and was told i could go on loan.
‘so it was obvious that i was not his type of player. i was not a 17-yearold kid then. i was 21 or 22.
‘i got a bit annoyed at the end, not annoyed but... i just want to be settled somewhere. i still had a year on my Chelsea contract, but i took a pay cut to come here and get my football back on track.’ When McEachran is named on the teamsheet, the wonderkid label still sticks. ‘ there is pressure,’ he says. ‘Everybody expects me to dribble round three players and put it in the top corner. But that’s just part and parcel of it.’ At Brentford, there have been setbacks. His first season was curtailed by serious foot injuries. McEachran insists the hunger remains, and England caps are still a long- term aspiration. ‘Yeah, definitely. i was playing from Under 16 to Under 21 level, i was in the squad every time. One step at a time, though. ‘i believe in myself. When i was 17 i believed i could play at the top level and i still believe that now. that’s what i want to do.’