Chelsea’s Swedish youngster Amin Affane has told a leading Dutch football website that he doesn’t believe he has a future at Stamford Bridge and is beginning to consider the next steps in his career.
Speaking to Voetbalzone.nl, the attacking midfielder, who joined the Blues from Lärje-Angereds in 2010 and has spent the duration of this season to date on loan at Roda JC in the Eredivisie, spoke frankly about his time in London to date and what his future may hold.
Affane revealed that after a slow start at the club due in a large part to injury, he was given a chance to shine in training with the first team by Carlo Ancelotti.
“Ancelotti saw it in me. He usually called me in the morning saying I could train with the first team squad. [He] said he wanted to give the youth a chance. He showed that by giving Josh McEachran, a good friend of mine, his debut”
However, future managers would apparently not be so kind to the club’s youngsters, with Affane claiming that Andre Villas-Boas had other preferences and brought in the likes of Raul Meireles and Oriol Romeu from overseas. He also suggests that Roberto Di Matteo, who would also have posed a problem regarding his chances of breaking through, was never really wanted by the Chelsea hierarchy.
“The club didn’t want Di Matteo as their coach but they were forced by his success in the Champions League. With his stay, I knew my chances of a debut dropped significantly despite my strong second year. I told them I wanted a loan spell. They were surprised and told me I had a future at Chelsea and that they wanted me to break through in 1st team this year.
Despite this, Affane obviously felt otherwise, and with upwards of £60m spent on attacking midfielders last summer in Eden Hazard, Oscar, Marko Marin and Victor Moses, he was forced into making a decision.
“I didn’t want to wait and play matches in reserve team. I don’t expect to play for Chelsea in the coming years. I have to focus on Roda JC”
Many observers may have felt that Affane was far from good enough to rival the likes of Hazard and Mata for regular playing time but the real debate is in the bigger picture. He is the latest in a succession of players to move on from Chelsea who have vented their frustration in the public eye, with Miroslav Stoch, Jack Cork, Fabio Borini and others doing the same thing before going on to prove their capabilities elsehere.
Affane is likely to sign permanently for Roda and will presumably set about making a name for himself in the Netherlands. Such is the lay of the land in Dutch football, he could quickly earn himself a move to a much bigger team and take his talents to a bigger stage. It wouldn’t be the first time a former Blue has done just that.
(Thanks to Will Stinson (@TheWSNetwork) for providing the excellent translations.)