The curious case of Josh McEachran

By festus Last updated Aug 18, 2019

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After the joke last season that was Josh McEachran’s, Chelsea fans across the world waited to see where this talented young guy would end up this season on loan. Would it be in the Premier League or Championship? In the end he’s gone to Middlesbrough, where it’s hoped he’ll manage to get more playing time than last season, which won’t be hard.

In the 2011/2012 season, Josh didn’t play even nearly as much as he would have liked, hardly featuring under AVB and only gaining 5 appearances after January at Swansea. It was a wasted year for Josh, and it was a real disappointment after all the promise we’ve seen from this guy already at such a young age. I remember under the days of Carlo Ancelotti when Josh made a few substitute appearances and a few starts for the club, and there was one moment for me that told me, this guy is going to be a special player.

It is a moment I’m sure that not many of you, if any, will remember and I’m surprised myself that I remember this moment. It was a game against Man City away in the 2010/11 season in which we ended up losing 1-0. But I remember Josh coming on with 10 minutes to go, and there was one move which really caught my attention. It was a Manchester City attack which got broken down near our own box, and I remember Josh almost plucking the ball out of the sky on the turn, going past one player and putting through a perfectly threaded ball for Drogba, which got cut out.

Now, you may call me mad for stating a boy’s future based on one piece of skill, and I’m not doing that. It’s just the fact that that one moment made the whole of the pub gasp, including myself, and it made me believe that we had a special player.

Josh is the youngest player to ever play in the Champions League against MSK Zilina, although his career at Chelsea is yet to take off, we should all monitor his progress at Borough, with the hope that the boy gets game time, as that’s all he needs. Josh has got the ability, it’s clear for everyone to see, it’s just that he needs to play consistently in order to get into rhythm. At Chelsea sadly that won’t seem to happen at the moment, especially with the acquisitions of Hazard, Mata and Oscar in the last 12 months.

He’s not the finished article by far, but I’m sure every Chelsea fan will want to see him succeed, be given time, and make himself a Chelsea legend. The fact that I saw an interview with Juan Mata about a year ago, where he said that the player with the best ability in the squad was Josh McEachran, and we all know how technical gifted Mata is! People may moan and say that he needs to bulk up, but I’d disagree with this. When you’re a tricky playmaker, who’s job it is to make tackles and deliver dangerous passes, why the need to bulk up? He’s not an Essien type player, he’s not a centre back or a striker. Mata isn’t the biggest and neither is Modric himself and they seem to do just fine with the physical side of the game.

This is a guy who has been tipped to play for England in a few years, and I really hope that that’s the case and we see Josh representing England as a Chelsea player. We’ve seen over the last few weeks two of our old academy players making big money moves in Fabio Borini and Scott Sinclair to Liverpool and Swansea respectively. The pair of them have been sold/are being sold for a figure near to £20 million. That could have been money earned by Chelsea if we had just given them a chance to prove themselves with game time. The last thing I want to see is McEachran playing for a rival club and being the best player on the pitch. It would be sickening if that was to ever happen!

But as it stands, he’s still our player and we must all hope that in 10 months time we’re talking about what a great season Josh has had at Borough and not the fact that he’s hardly played. The boy can play, just give him a chance. Come on Josh! Come on you blues!

KTBFFH!

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#Will Talbut (@WSTalbs)

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