Plenty of talent – but where will they get the chance?
There will clearly be much competition this season for places in the Chelsea midfield. Jorginho will plainly be an automatic choice, having been so expensively signed from Napoli, and the Italo-Brazilian represents a formidable capture. But what of the other places?
Ross Barkley is raring to go, his expensive transfer from Everton having so far been nullified by injury, but now he has apparently got himself fully fit again and there has never been any doubts about his talents. He already has numerous England caps, although Roy Hodgson used to criticise his alleged tendency to run out of position.
With Maurizio Sarri in charge and Chelsea seemingly committed to a more open and adventurous game, Barkley should find matters more agreeable.
He has trained hard and well and is convinced that he has put his physical problems behind him. And he is pleasingly generous about the teenaged
players who have lately been coming through. “It is very exciting and you see that with the younger groups,” says Barkley. “They’re winning World Cups and doing very well with developing players differently. You can see the quality and confidence that they have got to give in the future. In the next World Cup and next Euros there may be even more talent mixed in with experience.”
In an ideal world, yes, But, desperate for success, the major clubs largely go out and buy all too frequently abroad, to the detriment of whatever youngsters
they may have developed.
A recent example is that of Liverpool youngster Ben Woodburn, who on first appearances as a 17-year-old attacker showed remarkable poise and ability. But as the club pay a huge fortune for new talent, off he goes on loan to Sheffield United in the Championship.
And what is going to happen to that other young Chelsea star, the towering Ruben Loftus-Cheek? Absurdly underused by Gareth Southgate in the World Cup, he was at last given a full chance in the third-place match in which he excelled, twice praised generously by none other than that former Titan of midfield, Glenn Hoddle.
Last season Chelsea sent him out on loan to Crystal Palace, where he excelled. And now? He appears to be back at Stamford Bridge, but how much opportunity will he have there, in the era of Jorginho, not to mention the ever effective Cesc Fabregas?
Manchester City, in Phil Foden, and Arsenal both have bright young stars, but how much opportunity will they have?
In the case of Foden, it will surely be best to lend him out to a major club where he would have regular football.