One of the most mysterious football careers at Chelsea in recent years is the emergence and then quick downfall of midfielder Josh McEachran.
He burst onto the scene as a highly technical 17-year old and was made a part of Carlo Ancelotti’s successful starting eleven.
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The Italian boss liked Josh as a deep lying playmaker, just like Andrea Pirlo, who he told the youngster to study videos on.
Then, the switch of manager changed things and the now 28-year old MK Dons midfielder found himself out of Andre Villas-Boas team, and he ended up going on loan.
Even then he kept the faith, but the minute Jose Mourinho took over at Chelsea, he knew his career at the club was over due to not being the type of player that Jose likes.
McEachran told Football London:
“All Carlo’s teams have tended to have that deep-lying midfielder, the playmaker. They’d be the one to dictate the game, to get loads of the ball.
“So he told me to watch clips of Andrea Pirlo, who was a huge player for Carlo. So I would go home and watch and Carlo was talking to me most days about my positioning and movement. He always trusted me with the ball.
“I didn’t get to play [on loan at Swansea] and I wasn’t even on the bench sometimes. It was really confusing. I’m not sure what went on. It was a strange and disappointing time and it dented my confidence if I’m honest.
“I don’t regret going to Swansea. If I had stayed at Chelsea, AVB could’ve sent me down to the Under-23s and I’d have been miles away from the first team.
“So that’s how I look at it now…although I suppose on the flip side, it would’ve been nice to have a Champions League medal.
“I knew the type of midfielder that Jose liked. So as a young, technical English youngster I didn’t think I was going to have a chance. It was at that point that I felt my time at Chelsea was coming to an end. That was really tough.
“Chelsea was all I’d known: from being driven to training by my mum and dad when I was seven to making my first-team debut at 17. It felt like it all changed in the snap of a finger.”
He was massively rated as a youngster, but his career has never really hit the dizzy heights that we ALL expected they would.
He’s revealed all in a very detailed and interesting interview with Football London.
