Jamie Redknapp has claimed he’s been really impressed by Lewis Hall after watching the Chelsea youngster play twice in the last few days.
Chelsea have suffered back-to-back Premier League defeats during trips to Manchester in the past week, losing to both City and United.
Lewis Hall, who’s only 18, started and showed potential in last Sunday’s 1-0 defeat at the Etihad Stadium against Man City.
Yet again, the Blues teenager started during last night’s 4-1 defeat at Old Trafford against Man United.
There’s very little to cheer about as a Chelsea fan as this season slowly grinds to a halt, but some may be encouraged by a couple of the youngsters that are doing well with their first-team chances.
Sky Sports pundit Redknapp was extremely positive about Hall after Thursday night’s match against United.
The 18-year-old was definitely one of Chelsea’s brighter sparks from the left-back position, providing some genuine goalscoring opportunities when he joined in with the attack.
“From Lewis Hall’s point of view, I’ve watched the last two games live, he was their best player I thought against Man City, again today going forward I thought he did ever so well,” Redknapp told Sky Sports’ Main Event channel (10:30pm, 25 May).
“…He needs to look at his defensive positioning. He needs to make sure he gets his body shape right because that can’t happen (for United’s second goal). He’s done enough in these last two games to show us he can be a player who can be the left-back for the future; Cucurella hasn’t done it, so why can’t he be the one? He has got to make sure he gets those defensive details right, because if not, it’s going to be costly for him.”
We completely agree that Hall has stood-out as a good Chelsea performer in recent games.
The left-footed youngster plays with a real fearlessness and it says a lot that he’s doing well in a team in horrendous form.
We have seen him step into the first-team scene and impress as a left-back, but it’s worth mentioning a lot of his academy football has been as a central midfielder.
In our view, he’s one of the academy graduates at the club that incoming Chelsea boss Mauricio Pochettino should take a very close look at in pre-season. Our early assessment is that he’s at the level required to contribute to this squad.
Journalist Simon Phillips told GiveMeSport earlier this year that Chelsea staff are really impressed by the attitude and work rate of Hall. He’s someone to keep an eye on moving forward!