Jamal Musiala has gone from wonderkid to superstar this season, and it’s a painful reminder for Chelsea who had to watch him go on a free transfer after developing him in the academy.
Football Insider got a great interview with one of the Cobham academy coaches who moulded him along the way. Saul Isaksson-Hurst had Musiala as a young kid, but already knew he was special. Even in an age group with other stars like Tino Livramento (now at Newcastle) and fellow top talent Levi Colwill.
“My first year there I was an under-10s coach, Jamal Musiala was in my group and it was a very talented group actually. We had Tino Livramento there, Levi Colwill and several other top, top players.
“But Musiala was one of the players that really stood out in that very, very strong group – very much like he is now. He was very creative, liked to take players on and have a go.
“He was very exciting, a wow player we called him with wow moments in academy football.”
It’s fascinating to hear this little snippet from the academy, where people are generally pretty reserved in terms of what they reveal. We wish we could find out more about the specific things they’re doing which have elevated them above most – if not all – of their rivals when it comes to consistently producing top class footballers.
There is a bittersweet quality to Musiala’s success, as we’ll probably never see him in a Chelsea shirt again, but we can still take pride in having produced a player who looks like he could end up as one of the world’s very best. It would be nicer to see him in Blue, but he still counts as another vast credit to our incredible academy and youth development system which has poured out so many top class players. Musiala could yet prove to to be the best of him all, and we will always follow him with great interest and affection.
