Liam Twomey’ piece about Trevoh Chalobah in the Athletic today is sad reading for those of us who are big fans of the defender.
It retells the fully story of just how we got to where we are now. The strange situation where a young, home grown player who has stepped up and performed for the first team every time he’s been called upon, finds himself not only up for sale, but being actively forced out of the club where he’s been a part of the furniture for 17 years.
What it comes down to is quality, and while most are dismayed that a player who was our best defender for 6 months last season can be considered “not good enough”, that’s clearly the opinion of our co-sporting directors, Paul Winstanley and Laurence Stewart.
“This narrative [of undervaluing academy player] is disputed by the club’s leadership, who point to James, Levi Colwill and others as proof that elite academy talent will always be prized. Chalobah is simply not viewed as being in that tier, and Stewart and Winstanley were not appointed to be influenced by emotion or sentimentality in their squad planning.”
Doubling down on their own mistakes
So they think Chalobah isn’t good enough – even though the players they’ve bought to replace him (Benoit Badiashile, Axel Disasi, Wesley Fofana) have yet to play nearly as well as the 25 year old has since they’ve been at the club.
It stinks of the sunk cost fallacy to us – those in charge are doubling and then tripling down on their initial misjudgement of his ability, rather then holding their hands up and saying they had it wrong the first time. Still, as Twomey points out, there are plenty of teams who will appreciate him, and when the right one makes the right offer, he will be on the way.
Awful the way they are treating him.
Absolutely disgraceful. My club is unrecognisable since these idiots bought it.
Best player for 6 months last season? Chalobah only played the last 13 games of the season, he was injured for the whole season prior to that. So what are you talking about, 6 months?