Tosin Adarabioyo has embraced his leadership role in the Chelsea dressing room following his move from west London neighbours Fulham in the summer.
An experienced head with more than 120 Premier League appearances under his belt, Tosin has stepped into the role of mentor for our young squad with ease, enjoying the unique opportunity presented to him at Chelsea.
At 27 years young, the centre-back views his role off the pitch as important as his job on it, and Tosin believes it helps to bring out some of his best characteristics.
And he’s hoping that, if given the opportunity tomorrow night, he’ll be able to continue to showcase his qualities and help guide the squad through their next challenge.
‘It’s an amazing responsibility to come into the club and lead the boys,’ Tosin opened.
‘It is something I have always done no matter the age or what club I've been at. My leadership qualities are one of my strengths and to come here and do the same for this young group of boys is an honour really.
‘We’ve got a very young squad and as you can see we are pushing and here to compete with everyone in the league. We don’t really look at our age, we go out there and believe that we can go get those performances.’
On the subject of young talent, [Shumaira Mheuka](/en/teams/profile/shumaira-mheuka) has travelled to Germany having only just turned 17 last month - and Tosin is excited by the young forward’s qualities and wants to support him in his development.
‘He’s a top talent and hopefully, he will get onto the pitch tomorrow and impress,’ he continued.
‘My advice would be just go out, play free and do what you do, that’s what’s when you play best. I’ve not seen him play many games but in training, he has a great ability with the ball at his feet and from what I've heard he’s able to score a lot of goals.
‘It's difficult to find an out-and-out striker who can score many goals, so hopefully, he’s one of the players that can do that for us.
With a packed festive fixture schedule on the horizon, Tosin knows how important these next few games will be in keeping the Blues on course this season, and it starts tomorrow night in the Conference League.
He added: ‘It’s a competition that we take very seriously. There are no days you can switch off, you have to perform every single day.
‘Even this month where we will have 9 or 10 games, we have no time to switch off whether it’s recovery, training or something else, it’s a big festive period and we are here to get results.
‘I think it’s clear to see even in the growth from the start of the season has been tremendous. We believe there is so much more to give and achieve together. We are growing together each day.
‘We’ve only just started and we’re still learning things with Maresca, and there is a bit of patience there but we are Chelsea Football Club and the demand is high. We know it in the changing room. We have to go out there no matter what and perform.’