91: Josh McEachran, Chelsea, Panini Adrenalyn XL Champions League 11/12

Mat Jolin-Beech steps away from his usual hunting ground of the Old Trafford circus to head south to the, arguably, even more farcical scenes taking place in South West London since the arrival of Todd Boehly. In the past two years the American’s approach to the Premier League has seen six different men in the dugout, a squad the size of a small principality and less than desirable twelfth and sixth placed finishes. Then again he might just be carrying on some Chelsea traditions. Over to Mat.

On the back of Chelsea offering England penalty ice man Cole Palmer a new, nine (yes, nine) year, contract the suspicions of the Blues kicking the FFP can down the line began bubbling. Then you consider that this summer they have spent [at the time of writing] £185.4m on ten players – with more expected. Twenty players have left, leaving them with a squad of 43. This is a legitimate 43 as well, not one made up of under 15s who have had a decent twenty minutes in a training game against the over 55 veterans either.

Putting this into context, other top teams (is that generous to Chelsea?) have squads of 26-30 players. New boss Enzo Maresca, along with all the top flight managers, will have to submit a 25-man list to the Premier League officials after the summer transfer window has closed. This squad list excludes under 21s, effectively making them quota free, and at least eight home grown players. That last point is part of the reason the third goalkeeper role is important to managers, even if the likes of Scott Carson and Tom Heaton never play. It boosts the quota numbers.

Of Chelsea’s 43 current players fourteen are under 21s, leaving them with four spare players. This potentially means Kepa Arrizabalaga, Benoit Badiashile, Romelu Lukaku, and Christopher Nkunku. The point is that of that 43, there will be players deemed to have potential that will never get first team minutes at Chelsea, or only a handful, before being sold or loaned out, never to return to the home dressing room in Stamford Bridge. As an aside, Chelsea have been very good at hoarding young talent and selling them on, which is perhaps why they are not quite yet on the FFP doorstep facing punishment like Everton or Nottingham Forest.

But this is not a new phenomenon for Chelsea, having hoovered up talent in the late 2000s under Roman Abramovich thus blocking the pathway for academy products into the first team. One such name was Josh McEachran who was once deemed by Blues fans to be the next great English midfielder and heir apparent to one Mr Lampard Jr. Perhaps his biggest achievement at Chelsea was to become the first player born after the formation of the Champions League, in its modern format, to play in the competition.

But due to talent hoarding, as Chelsea are still doing to this day, coupled with perhaps bad luck and not quite the level of ability required he never made a career at the top level. Loans to [*deep breath] Swansea City, Middlesbrough, Watford, Wigan Athletic, and Vitesse Arnhem all came and went. (When this topic came up in the group chat about Chelsea’s hugely bloated squad it was joked that Vitesse should easily walk the Eredivisie with a selection of these players on loan!) Then came a sale from Chelsea to Brentford netting the Blues a pure FFP profit or an estimated £750,000. Not huge in modern transfer terms, but not bad back in 2015. He then had stints at Birmingham City, MK Dons, and Oxford United where he still resides.

So, despite the talent he has, a combination of bad luck, being part of an elite level squad packed with talent, and suffering from football as a business and players as a commodity view taken by the Chelsea board that seems to continue to this day McEachran never really had a chance at the top level. I’d still love to have his football career though and would bite his hand off to don the Oxford United shirt for a season and swap Thursday nights on the Sandwich astro turf with him. It does dampen the love of a game built on childish enthusiasm though when you realise that football clubs are now just businesses and players their commodities to be traded in order to balance the books. It just doesn’t hold the same allure as a last minute Champions League winner.