This is excellent, Lewis - the point about Giroud + shooting/crossing angles especially is so so interesting.
Hoping Mikel n Co. can sort his confidence as for me that's clearly the main issue at play (and I'm not sure we've seen Arteta resurrect a complete 0 confidence player yet?), but excited to see another high-ceiling gamble given how Rice feels like a dead-cert success story, just for some spice in the XI.
Great article! Very interesting to see how is underlying numbers are very similar to his time in Germany. Obviously he was very young and Chelsea probably expected (pardon the pun) his output to increase but do you think he was overrated at the point of the transfer? I wonder how wirtz compares as well.
I'm not sure I'd say he was overrated at the time but I do think whenever you spend big on talent at that age you're paying for what they might be, not what they are. And then it's on the club as well as the player to nurture that development and Chelsea just haven't
Thanks! I hope I've not just built you up for you to crash back down to earth. And same, intrigued to see how/where he fits in and suspect we'll see different shapes next season
This is excellent, Lewis - the point about Giroud + shooting/crossing angles especially is so so interesting.
Hoping Mikel n Co. can sort his confidence as for me that's clearly the main issue at play (and I'm not sure we've seen Arteta resurrect a complete 0 confidence player yet?), but excited to see another high-ceiling gamble given how Rice feels like a dead-cert success story, just for some spice in the XI.
Thanks but I really do have to just give credit to Arsène Wenger for that Giroud bit! Just couldn't find the quote.
I'm the same as you, a bit of a gamble but the potential reward is huge.
Great article! Very interesting to see how is underlying numbers are very similar to his time in Germany. Obviously he was very young and Chelsea probably expected (pardon the pun) his output to increase but do you think he was overrated at the point of the transfer? I wonder how wirtz compares as well.
I'm not sure I'd say he was overrated at the time but I do think whenever you spend big on talent at that age you're paying for what they might be, not what they are. And then it's on the club as well as the player to nurture that development and Chelsea just haven't
thanks lewis. this made me a lot more optimistic. i’m really curious to see where arteta will use him. exciting times ahead
Thanks! I hope I've not just built you up for you to crash back down to earth. And same, intrigued to see how/where he fits in and suspect we'll see different shapes next season