Chelsea will be pleased with how one loan star is playingplaceholder image
Chelsea will be pleased with how one loan star is playing | Getty Images
One Chelsea youngster could be in line for a position change after he proved himself with a goal this week.
One Chelsea star may have found a new position while playing for his loan club. As ever, the Blues have an army of players out on loan this season, including a host of youngsters who are hoping to impress their boss from afar.
Though, during their absence, their boss has changed due to Enzo Maresca leaving and Liam Rosenior taking over in recent weeks. Fortunately for many of those exiled players, Rosenior has already shown a willingness to re-examine decisions made by Maresca, with Axel Disasi brought in from the bomb squad, albeit he will still be expected to leave at some point.
Many players currently out on loan could get a fresh chance to impress this summer, and one of them could be Omari Kellyman, who was signed on a £20million deal from Aston Villa, although it’s widely believed the inflated figure was part of a two-way deal for the two clubs to help each other out when it comes to Financial Fair Play.
Nevertheless, Kellyman is seen as a big talent, but his early days with the Blues were scuppered by a reoccurring hamstring injury last season. This season, Kellyman has been out on loan with Cardiff City, impressing for the Bluebirds, who are four points clear at the top of League One and 10 points clear of third place.
The 20-year-old has three goals and one assist for Cardiff so far, but his performances have been much better than his statistics suggest. On Tuesday night, Kellyman played in the striker role in the absence of Yousef Salech, who picked up a neck injury over the weekend.
Callum Robinson was expected to start in the role, but Kellyman, who has largely played out wide or in the 10 role, got the nod, and Cardiff manager Brian Barry-Murphy has backed the Chelsea youngster to become a full-time striker after he scored in the 4-0 win.
“Well, I just see him very much as a centre-forward,” said Barry-Murphy. “I’ve seen him play as a centre-forward many times before when he was younger, so I was very confident he could do the job. I felt it was the right solution for this game. I’m very pleased with his performance and also very pleased with Callum (Robinson) and Isaak’s (Davies) performances when they came on. All those players are hungry to play and are giving me a lot of food for thought in the absence of Yousef.”
Kellyman on his big performance
Speaking after the game, Kellyman told Cardiff’s in-house media: “It was a few years ago now I played against one of his (Brian Barry-Murphy’s) teams as a false nine or centre forward. I got two goals in that game. I think he can trust me in that position because of that. I’d say my natural game is to have the ball at my feet a lot of the time, so when you’re not getting it it’s a matter of how I can affect the game and still have a positive performance.”
He added: “Hopefully I can get on a little run and continue to score. At the end of the day, it’s all about performances and winning games so if I can do what I can to help the team win games then it’s positive. Being in a title race is something I’ve never done before. I’m still young obviously. It’s a great experience and I’m soaking it all in.”
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