Tosin Adarabioyo is a natural born leader, and so a natural choice to take the press conferences ahead of Chelsea’s Conference League games, where he’s a regular.
He showed off that inspiring and encouraging side of his personality when asked to talk about Shim Mheuka, the outrageously talented 17 year old who is travelling with the squad to Germany, and could feature tonight against Heidenheim.
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Stamford Bridge in the early evening, quite generic. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
A Chelsea flag waves at Stamford Bridge.
“He’s a top talent and hopefully, he will get onto the pitch tomorrow and impress,” Tosin explained in the presser last night.
“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.”
Shim Mheuka playing for the Development Squad. Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Shim Mheuka playing for the Development Squad. Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Mheuka has golden chance to impress Enzo Maresca and secure more appearances
There’s certainly something of a gap in Chelsea’s squad for a backup goalscorer right now. Summer signing Marc Guiu works hard but hardly looks a goal machine. Nicolas Jackson needs a solid backup, and the Conference League will provide plenty of chances for minutes.
If Shim impresses tonight, it could lead to further appearances this season and beyond. We still think Guiu will take up a lot of these minutes, but Shim can push him hard. The competition between the two can help them both – if Mheuka can start working as hard as Guiu, and the Catalan become as prolific as the academy kid, then we really will be onto something.