Chelsea midfielder Lewis Baker has encouraged young English players to head abroad to progress their careers away from the spotlight of England.
The 20-year-old sealed a season-long loan to Vitesse Arnhem at the end of June – the fifth Blues player to move temporarily to the Dutch side – and believes spending time abroad could help his development tremendously.
“A lot of the English boys maybe don’t want to try coming out abroad for some reason,” as quoted by the Daily Mail. “The first loan I did go to I maybe didn’t want to go abroad, but seeing different cultures and different ways of playing, I would advise it to younger players.
“I think if you go and try different places you pick up different things and styles of playing and it’s experiences, I think. Maybe staying in England won’t benefit you, maybe it will benefit you. It depends what you are comfortable with.
“I think it’s a great experience for me playing in League One, the Championship and now trying abroad.
“So far it’s been good and all the players and staff have made me welcome, and I think it will be a good development stage for me. They play football the way I like to play football and I think that’s good.”
Baker won Chelsea’s Young Player of the Year in 2013/14; however, as with many of his reserve team-mates, the midfielder is struggling to make an impact on Jose Mourinho’s senior squad.
Among those loaned out include promising youngsters Marco van Ginkel, Patrick Bamford and Tomas Kalas, while Josh McEachran signed a four-year contract with Championship side Brentford last month.
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