Chelsea made so many moves in the summer that it was easy for multiple names to go under the radar, but there’s plenty of intrigue about Dutch defender Xavier Mbuyamba after he joined from Barcelona in the summer.
He’s still only 19 and hasn’t played a lot of senior football, but he left the Nou Camp amid frustrations at not getting a chance with the senior setup and they were upset about losing him.
He’s a giant defender at 6″5 but he’s also handy and somewhat elegant on the ball so there were early comparisons to Virgil van Dijk, but his Chelsea career was stunted due to an injury and operation that he had to have after his arrival.
READ MORE: Can West Ham tempt a Chelsea striker to solve their issues up front?
He’s taken to Instagram today to announce that he’s finally been able to join the first team for training, so it will be interesting to see if he can work his way into the side:
Xavier Mbuyamba:
“A few months later than I thought when I signed last summer but here I am, back with the team. I can finally do what I came for. With more hunger to succeed than ever before…It starts now!”
[via iG: mbuyamba.x] pic.twitter.com/6DxJMMiZS6
— Absolute Chelsea (@AbsoluteChelsea) January 15, 2021
Frank Lampard already has plenty of senior defenders and he’s under a bit of pressure so it’s probably not the time to be throwing untested youngsters into the starting XI, so it’s probably worth keeping an eye on the U23 side to see if he features there first.
Give him a chance of playing football to experience even though he was untested young Star
Give him some chance even though he’s untested but only in cup matches