Chelsea youngster Alex Matos has opened up on his loan spell at Huddersfield describing it as “a great experience.”
Matos arrived at Chelsea last summer on a free transfer from Norwich City and went straight into the club’s under-21 side.
The 19-year-old impressed in the Premier League 2, making seven appearances and was called up to train with the first team squad on a number of occasions, before making his debut as he replaced Enzo Fernandez at the end of Chelsea’s 2-0 win over Fulham in October.
Matos opens up on Huddersfield loan
Matos went on to make one further appearance for the Blues in the Carabao Cup before the decision was taken to send him on loan to Huddersfield in January to help his development.
The former Norwich man couldn’t have asked for a tougher task on his debut as he lined up for the Terriers away at Manchester City in the FA Cup, and he went on to make 20 appearances, scoring one goal.
Since returning to Cobham Matos has been reflecting on his loan spell in the Championship, and described it as a “great experience.”
‘It was good for me, I played a lot of games, got a lot of minutes and it was a great experience for me,” Matos told Chelsea’s website.
“My objective was to go out and play a lot of minutes in a good league in the Championship, despite the disappointment of relegation, it was a really good experience and I learned a lot.
“Every point means something, every goal means something and it’s hugely important.
“It’s a tough environment, but the senior players at Huddersfield helped me a lot and I learned a lot from them, players like Jonathan Hogg were great and they were very good guys.”
It wasn’t just on the pitch where the 19-year-progressed he also felt his time away taught him a lot off it.
“It was tough at the start, but gradually I adapted to my new living environment and learned to live by myself,” he added.
“Fortunately, my family came to pretty much every home game that I played and they were really supportive of me.
“I really enjoyed my time there, the stadium, the supporters, the people and staff, everyone welcomed me as soon as I got to the club, I’m very grateful for the experience.”
If a loan move is right then it can act as such an important part of a players development and it will be interesting to see what Chelsea decide is the best move for Matos next.
