Chelsea’s loan army has been more and more effective in recent years, mainly as we’ve improved the selection of clubs we make for the youngsters, and the effort put into monitoring them.
At the moment we have former Chelsea man Paulo Ferreira monitoring the kids out at other clubs, and he was the one watching Reece James tear it up at Wigan last year.
He recommended he be promoted this season, and we’ve seen him integrate instantly into Frank Lampard’s senior squad. The Metro have quotes from former Blues defender Ferreira where he outlines exactly how impressed he is:
“He is a top player and a fantastic boy. For me, it was a pleasure to work with him last season when he was at Wigan,” he enthused.
“You could see the potential of the player and I thought he could come back to the club and do well… But if you ask me if I thought he would be doing what he has been doing, then I wouldn’t have believed you!” Ferreira went on to say.
We all knew the quality that James has, but we also were super impressed by just how quickly he established himself as a first team player – but also with how quickly he was given a chance.
The moment he was fit enough to play he was being given chances by Frank Lampard, and he hasn’t looked back since. That’s a credit to the coach, and to the player, and to the staff members who have been keeping the loan army ticking over.
