“In one to two years he can be in the first team” – Chelsea make big promises to 18 year old transfer target

Chelsea are being strongly linked with central defender Xavier Mbuyamba, and a year on from when it was originally planned to take place, it looks like the Blues will get their man.

Still just a kid, he’s got the physique of a man already, and looks like he could slot in to our back 4 right away.

But physicality isn’t everything – and in fact our current crop of defenders have all the physical gifts in the world, it’s mentally where they seem to struggle.

That hasn’t stopped the club promising Dutch wonderkid Mbuyamba that he has the potential to play first team football very quickly though, as you can tell from quotes from his agent as published in Nizaar Kinsella’s piece on Goal.com:

“You immediately sit with the first-team players during lunch and the club has outlined a very ambitious plan for Xavier,” Carlos Barros said.

“They really think that in one to two years, he can be in the first team.”

It’s not that unrealistic to think that could be the case, given he’s ready physically already. But with 0 minutes of senior football played, is banking on an 18 year old really the best idea for a team that was desperately poor in defence this season?

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