It’s been a busy Christmas and New Year period for the Loan Army, but we’ve been on top of all the goings-on in an action-packed first Loan Report of 2017. Headliners There’ve been no shortage of goals since we were last with you, and most of them have come courtesy of Tammy Abraham. On Boxing Day he scored an equaliser for Bristol City away to Wolves only to end up…
Chelsea Academy Moments of 2016
It’s been another memorable year for the Chelsea Football Club academy, with yet more silverware added to the trophy cabinet and a host of first-team debuts headlining a group of players bursting at the seams with quality, exhibiting itself both at Stamford Bridge and out on loan. With 2016 drawing to a close, it’s time to take a quick look back at the last twelve months and celebrate another productive…
Development Squad: Chelsea 1-2 Swansea City
Chelsea bowed out of the 2016-17 Premier League International Cup on Thursday evening after a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Swansea City at Aldershot’s EBB Stadium. The Blues needed a minor miracle if they were to make it through the group stage after Dinamo Zagreb beat Feyenoord 3-0 at Cobham on Tuesday, and gave it a good go after taking a first-half lead through Josimar Quintero, but a hotly-disputed…
Learning to Evaluate the Loan Army
With more than fifty players having embarked on well in excess of one hundred loan moves over the past three years, Chelsea fans are well-versed in understanding the loan market, and the moves a young developmental prospect now must make if he is to realise his ambitions of a career back at Stamford Bridge. It’s an increasingly interesting/futile (delete as applicable) exercise and, with each passing year, the standard of…
The Loan Report: December 12-18
The last full week of fixtures before many European leagues embark on a winter break saw four more goals added to the Loan Army tally, taking us to 67 for the season , whilst ensuring the streak of at least one being scored in every full week of the campaign so far continued. Headliners Three of them came in midweek, with a pair of them arriving at the Gelredome as…
Development Squad: Chelsea 0-1 Dinamo Zagreb
Chelsea’s second Premier League International Cup outing of the season didn’t quite go to plan as they were edged out 1-0 at home to a well-drilled Dinamo Zagreb team. In a match that never really got going, the Croatians were impressive at the back and made it count when Filip Mihaljević gave them a first-half lead they never really looked like relinquishing. The result brought to an end a seven-match…