Lesley Ugochukwu has been recalled from France’s Olympic reserve group by Chelsea after coach Thierry Henry decided to downgrade him from the main squad.
“Lesley Ugochukwu leaves the Olympic selection. The midfielder is leaving the French Olympic Team this Friday, July 19, and will not be among the reserves for the Paris 2024 Olympic tournament. Following a request from Chelsea FC, Lesley Ugochukwu will permanently leave the French Olympic football team and will no longer be available as a reserve,” a statement from the French Football Federation released yesterday read.
It means the 20 year old is now going to get a chance to impress in preseason training under new manager Enzo Maresca, an important moment for the midfielder.
As this piece from the Evening Standard points out, Chelsea are “assessing a number of loan options” for Ugochukwu ahead of the new season, with a number of midfielders available to the new coach and some top flight experience preferred for the £25m midfielder this year.
A mounting challenge for a young talent
In a way, it’s quite impressive that the midfielder ended up making 15 appearances last season. Many of those were off the bench of course, and the majority before Christmas. After that, like so many other members of the squad, he saw his season disrupted heavily by injury, and his campaign rather petered out.
That was a real pity for the youngster – with so many players out, he could really have taken the chance established himself and earn a lot of valuable Premier League experience.
Instead his own problems held him back, and he now looks to be so far back in the pecking order that Chelsea are looking to loan him out. It could be the making of him, but equally he may be left ruing the fact he couldn’t stay fit when his chance presented itself.
