Chelsea began the defence of their Under-18 Premier League Cup with a fine 5-1 win against Norwich City at Cobham on Saturday. The Canaries have struggled this season and were put to the sword by a clinical and efficient Blues side that had itself been subject to plenty of rotation. Thierno Ballo’s first-half hat-trick set them on their way, before Henry Lawrence and Jon Russell added to the tally in…
Another productive week for the Loan Army was headlined by goals from two England Under-21 internationals who are anything but strangers to stealing the show. Headliners Tammy Abraham scores goals in the Championship. He proved as much during the 2016-17 season at Bristol City, and grabbed his first in Aston Villa colours in midweek, opening his account in a 2-0 win against Rotherham. It was a very typical Tammy Abraham…
It was a good day for both of Chelsea’s main academy sides as the Under-18s and Development Squad each recorded 2-1 wins on Saturday. Andy Myers’ youth team were triumphant at home to a typically hard-to-beat Aston Villa, while Joe Edwards’ Under-23s retained their 100% record away from home with a 2-1 victory at West Ham United. With injuries, first-team commitments and even the Under-16s away at a Premier League…
We’re back from the international break with a full complement of loanees to catch up on, with the headlines this week belonging to Iké Ugbo. Headliners Ugbo will have found out a lot about himself over the past twelve months; his first loan in professional football was at Championship club Barnsley, where a promising start grew into winter frustration. He swapped the Tykes’ red for the white of Milton Keynes…
A report on Thursday’s Sport BILD carried rumours that FIFA are to ‘crack down’ on the excessive loaning of players by top clubs by limiting them to a maximum of eight per season, something that would supposedly cause no end of problems for the likes of Chelsea (40 out on loan currently) and Juventus (26), apparent player hoarders that they are. Cue hysteria: Ignoring for one moment that Manchester City,…
The international break usually means a break from the Loan Report but, with more a dozen young Blues still around and not getting any time off, we’re still going to check in on the latest news and views. Headliners The best performer over the past seven days has to be Yeovil’s Nathan Baxter, who recorded a fifth straight clean sheet in the Glovers’ midweek Checkatrade Trophy clash with Exeter City….
There are even more goals from the Championship in this week’s edition of the Loan Report as young, English hopefuls continue to make headlines. With the transfer window also closing in most countries on Friday, we’ll also cover the last-minute deals that took the Loan Army up to a record-breaking 40. Headliners Before the flurry of Friday deals, however, there was a midweek round of League Cup action for our…
Chelsea’s Development Squad maintained their perfect record away from home so far in the 2018-19 season with a 1-0 win at Swansea County that took them to the top of the Premier League 2 table. Joseph Colley’s goal shortly before the hour mark proved decisive in a tight and closely-fought contest that the home team probably shaded overall, but an increasingly resilient young Blues team featuring three seventeen year-olds added…
That was more like it. It hasn’t been the smoothest start to the season for Chelsea’s Under-18s, who were held to a draw at home to Leicester City two weeks ago before a defeat at Tottenham last time out, but they put all of that behind them with a handsome 3-1 win over a previously unbeaten Arsenal at Cobham on Saturday morning. They had goalkeeper Karlo Žiger to thank for…
The goals continue to flow for Chelsea’s Loan Army and, indeed, we’re slightly ahead of the early-season total from this point a year ago. A pair of talented Championship playmakers were responsible for adding to the tally late in the week, but it was a duo playing overseas who got things going. Headliners Mario Pašalić had already made his presence felt in Atalanta colours in Europe, and on Monday night…