Chelsea fans on social media had plenty to say about their youngster Jamie Gittens after he played for England Under-21s yesterday in an away win against Kazakhstan.
Lee Carsley’s Young Lions started the defence of the European Under-21 Championship with a 2-0 victory over Kazakhstan in qualifying, with goals coming from Ethan Nwaneri and Jobe Bellingham.
From a Chelsea perspective, Jamie Gittens and Josh Acheampong both started for the England U21s on Monday. It’s their only scheduled game during this international break, which may be positive news for Blues head coach Enzo Maresca because he’s got players all over the globe playing multiple matches.
It feels like Gittens may already be under pressure at Chelsea despite only joining them in the summer from Borussia Dortmund. The reality is that the 21-year-old left-winger has a lot of competition to deal with at Stamford Bridge.
He’s been in and out of Maresca’s team in the opening weeks of the season, so it was good for him to get 71 minutes for England U21s.
Chelsea supporters split on Jamie Gittens
The Blues fanbase on X were massively split on Gittens after watching his international performance for England’s talented U21s team.
While the attacker couldn’t register a goal or assist, he did shine bright in moments with his acceleration and directness. He’s now starting to experience the kind of pressure that comes with playing for Chelsea.
One fan wrote: “Gittens is so so good.”
However, another posted: “This Gittens guy is a downgrade to all wingers that left Chelsea, even at Under-21s, he can’t do anything.”
One supporter claimed: “Gittens is crazy rapid by the way.”
However, another said: “Gittens cut inside and shoot for goodness sake.”
Troy Deeney is excited by Chelsea signing Gittens and thinks he’s perfect for the Premier League, but admits he needs to improve his end product.
He’s failed to score or assist in his opening three Blues appearances this term in the Premier League. Hopefully, he can change that on Saturday night during the trip to local rivals Brentford.
Jamie Gittens statistics vs Kazakhstan
Let’s take a look at Gittens’ individual stats from England against Kazakhstan in the U21s fixture.
| Minutes played | Goals | Assists | Touches | Accurate passes | Key passes | Shots on target | Shots off target | Successful dribbles | Was fouled | Match rating |
| 71 | 0 | 0 | 49 | 19/21 (90%) | 0 | 1 | 1 | 6/8(75%) | 3 | 7.2 |
Even though Gittens is supremely talented and gets you off the edge of your seat, we expected a bit more from him on Monday. The developing youngster still has plenty of time on his side to enjoy a strong season, though.
With Alejandro Garnacho now at Chelsea, we expect to see him and Gittens raise each other’s levels during competition for a starting role on the left wing.
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