Chelsea have several young players enjoying their football out on loan this season, but one of them has just received a harsh review for his performance on Tuesday night.
We’ve seen throughout Chelsea history so many individuals benefit from time out on loan before breaking through at Stamford Bridge.
In the current Blues squad, the likes of Levi Colwill and Reece James benefited from spells elsewhere earlier in their careers.
Incidentally, Football.London claimed last month that Chelsea could loan out Omari Kellyman in January.
Local media rips into Lesley Ugochukwu
Chelsea’s Lesley Ugochukwu, who’s on a season-long loan at Southampton, is finding it difficult to establish himself at St Mary’s.
The 20-year-old midfielder was recalled into the Saints starting line-up last night for a Carabao Cup Round of 16 match at home to Stoke City.
Despite playing the full 90 minutes in a 3-2 victory, Ugochukwu has received pretty strong criticism from local media for his individual display in the Southampton midfield. He was handed a 4/10 match rating.
The Daily Echo wrote: “Lesley Ugochukwu – 4. Struggled. Lost his marker for Stoke’s first goal before giving the ball away for their second. Seemed to delay his decision-making, leading to him losing the ball or making a foul. Showed glimpses of his talent but needs to put things together in a Saints shirt.”
Lesley Ugochukwu match statistics
Fotmob data has provided the individual statistics from Ugochukwu’s latest Southampton performance in the cup win over Stoke:
- Minutes played – 90
- Match rating – 7.5
- Shots on target – 0/2 (0%)
- Touches in opposition box – 3
- Successful dribbles – 1/2 (50%)
- Touches – 78
- Accurate passes – 56/64 (88%)
- Passes into final third – 5
- Tackles won – 2/3 (67%)
- Interceptions – 1
- Dribbles past – 1
In fairness, Ugochukwu’s stats above suggest he had a decent game for Russell Martin’s side in midweek. However, the Chelsea-owned youngster clearly didn’t pass the eye test.
The defensive midfielder has been an an unused substitute in Southampton’s last three consecutive Premier League matches, so let’s see if his cup outing has helped or hindered his chances of getting top-flight minutes.
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