Matt Law’s latest update on Chelsea’s squad situation confirms a likely loan departure for striker Marc Guiu, signed this summer from Barcelona.
“Guiu will probably be allowed to go out on loan come the end of the transfer window, once Samu Omorodion is in the building and once they know what’s going on with Osimhen.”
We would have guessed this was the most likely path, even without Law’s confirmation.
There’s of course something to be said for a player going on their loan as soon as possible, so they can adapt to their new manager and teammates as soon as possible. But in this case we saw the benefits of keeping young players around the first team a while longer. Guiu really impressed fans (and presumably his new coaches and teammates) by looking far more mature and developed than might have expected.
He will go and spend the season somewhere else now – but he’s made an impression already, in a way that some players never get the chance to.
Where next for the rugged Spaniard
The big question is where he goes. Foreign loan slots are incredibly precious, but Guiu may not be ready to start regularly in the Premier League yet. Could we see a toughening-up campaign in the Championship on the horizon? It’s a move that would make sense to us, if we can find a team which is likely to play him and get the best out of him, week in, week out.
He’s remarkably physically developed for an 18 year old, and we rather like the idea of a baptism of fire one rung below the top flight. Equally, it all depends on how the remaining loan slots are handled – it’s certainly not impossible one is made free for Guiu to go back to Spain or elsewhere on the continent.
