Mauricio Pochettino has admitted he doesn’t know if Lesley Ugochukwu will stay in the Chelsea squad next season.
Lesley Ugochukwu, who’s just 19, became Chelsea’s newest signing on Tuesday when he joined from Rennes in a £23million (BBC) deal.
The teenage defensive midfielder has already played 60 first-team games for Ligue 1 side Rennes, which includes experience in European football.
So, is he ready to come straight into the Blues first-team group for the upcoming 2023/24 campaign?
Speaking in yesterday’s press conference, Pochettino reacted very positively to the confirmation of Ugochukwu’s arrival.
However, the player may be slightly worried that the Chelsea head coach was fairly indecisive when discussing the youngster’s immediate future.
It sounds like the Blues management will take a look at the French midfielder during the rest of pre-season before deciding whether he stays or goes out on loan.
Pochettino said abut Ugochukwu, as quoted by Football.London: “He’s a young, talented player. We don’t know if he will have the possibility to play tomorrow because we need to assess him. Now is time to assess him until the end of the transfer window and see if he is going to be with us or the way the club signed, maybe it can be a different possibility to loan or stay with us. We need to assess him when he starts training with us today and then in London after the tour.”
French football expert Jonathan Johnson recently told Football Daily that Ugochukwu is one of the top prospects in Ligue 1.
It looks like he’ll now have the briefest of windows to force his way into Pochettino’s plans.
Our guess is that the young midfielder will be loaned out next season to continue his development before returning to West London a year later.
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