First of all, hello to the Chelsea Fancast. I was mentioned by Chidge and Dean on the ‘Chilled Well’ episode this week as one of the new writers.
My name is Lui, I’m a 22 year old student at UCFB Wembley and a die hard Chelsea fan. I plan to talk about three players a week and what they mean to me and what I think of them as Chelsea players.
Please bear in mind this is completely my opinion and how I see the players and club as a 22 year old. My main objective of these articles is to create friendly conversation amongst us Chelsea fans.
Jorginho, oh Jorginho. Hated under Maurizio Sarri and dare I say it adored under Frank Lampard. My father is half Italian and his family come from Naples.
Therefore the signing of Jorg was huge for my household as we had a Napolitan wearing the blue of Chelsea.
Under Sarri, Jorg was somewhat of an over luxurious player in a failed system. However, I think Frank has changed Jorginho’s game drastically over the past season plus lockdown.
Take last February for example, Jorg was suspended in the Champions League and the Premier League at the same time. Frank had turned the most luxurious, overly self indulgent player into Chelsea’s very own brawler.
I was at Jorginho’s debut against Manchester City in the Community Shield. 2-0 down and with about 20 minutes to go Jorg chased Riyad Mahrez down the touchline and put in a crunching tackle. A little too late as the game had already been lost.
Switch the narrative to this current season, and he’s making those big tackles, nipping at players legs well within the first ten minutes.
I seriously think Jorg is fulfilling his potential as an Andrea Pirlo come Gattuso player in our midfield. Put him alongside Mateo Kovacic and we have a perfect balance of athleticism and class in our midfield.
Next up I want to talk about Cesar Azpilicueta more affectionately known as Dave. If you don’t know who Dave is then where have you been since 2012?
Look up Chelsea’s No.28 and then come back.
Azpilicueta has been the most reliable player in Chelsea’s squad for just under a decade now. He’s the only player in the English League that still dives in the way of shots and then celebrates like he’s scored a diving header. I’ve loved watching him over the years and I still don’t think he’s fully appreciated.
I think he really took notes from John Terry when he was at the club because even when Gary Cahill was the club captain I couldn’t help but feel he was the real leader of that title winning team under Antonio Conte.
I hope he stays in our defence for years to come, maybe not as a right back though, Reece James is really claiming that spot for me. Little fun fact, I’ve seen Azpi score at live games more than I saw Didier Drogba score!
The final Player I want to talk about is Callum Hudson-Odoi. Mainly because I don’t really know how much longer he will be a Chelsea player for and because I rate the youngster so highly.
The first time I saw him play at Stamford Bridge was in the Europa League vs. Dynamo Kiev. Of course he scored because as much as it was Oliver Giroud’s tournament it was also Callum’s.
He was absolutely phenomenal in that Europa League campaign, and it is obvious why Bayern Munich have been sniffing around him ever since.
I’ve had many debates at University with other students (mainly Arsenal fans) that consider him to be the most overrated youngster in English Football, which I think is nonsense.
He has the potential to surpass Marcus Rashford in my opinion. If he gets his head down and adopts Mason Mount’s desire to improve then I see no reason as to why he can’t be Chelsea’s next big thing.
To end my first piece for the Fancast I just want to say a huge thank you to Dean and Dayne for the help I’ve received from them both over on Twitter, and an even bigger thank you to Chidge for agreeing to let me write about our amazing club. Up the Chels.
Lui
You can follow Lui on Twitter @TompsettLui
