Loan Army 24/25: Roundup

Lets see how our loan army are getting on.....

Good Morning Ladies and Gents,

Loan Army resumes……..

Lets catch up with what they’ve been up to in recent times……

Teddy Sharman-Lowe (Doncaster Rovers) - Goalkeeper;

Clean sheets are still rolling through for Teddy with 2 in his last 3. With Doncaster sitting in the automatic promotion places at the moment, business end of the season will be massive for Doncaster and Teddy.

Alfie Gilchrist (Sheffield United) - Right Back;

Alfie is still out injured at the moment.

Dylan Williams (Burton Albion) - Left Back/Wing Back;

Dylan has managed to get himself back in the matchday squad of late although he has been an unused sub in 3 of the last 4 and coming on for just 4 minutes in the other game. New manager doesn’t fancy him but he must be working hard to be getting back in the squad.

Caleb Wiley (Watford) - Left Back/Wing Back;

Caleb has just returned from injury and to full first team training at Watford, he was on the bench for the first time Saturday without featuring, he will be back on the pitch in the coming days and weeks.

Andrey Santos (RC Strasbourg) - Centre Midfield;

Andrey and Strasbourg are continuing to play well and fly up Ligue1. He is constantly hitting 7.5 or 8 out of 10 in every single game. He is up to 11 goal involvements in 24 appearances this season.

Bashir Humphreys (Burnley) - Centre Back;

Bash is having a superb season at Burnley and is part of the defence that has an incredible record and is breaking all sorts of records this season. He scored in the recent 2-0 win over Hull as well.

Lesley Ugochukwu (Southampton) - Holding Midfield;

Lesley is playing consistent football in this Southampton side now, he is playing in a terrible time but stands out each time I watch him, he is not Chelsea level yet and will require another loan but foundations are being built.

Armando Broja (Everton) - Striker;

Still injured.

Kendry Paez (Independiente del Valle) - No.10/Attacker;

He is in London and training at the club now, after an agreement to join the club early was struck, Chelsea want him to adapt to England early to be ready for CWC.

Estevao Willian (Palmeiras) - Right Winger;

I am actually already running out of superlatives to describe this kids ability, potential and performances and he ahsn’t even joined us yet. There has to be context involved, in terms of its not a top European league but some of the goals he has scored recently have been incredible, his overall performances superb as well.

For anyone that hasn’t read Si’s article from yesterday please read it, it couldn’t be more true! Read it here

A couple of clips from recent goals.

https://x.com/GingaBonitoHub/status/1895989877130608847

https://x.com/goal/status/1896606495745229257

https://x.com/search?q=estevao&src=typed_query

Djordje Petrovic - (Strasbourg) - Goalkeeper;

4 clean sheets in a row for Strasbourg and Petrovic, his performances have been impressive and his footwork and on the ball ability is improving tenfold, by the game.

He has to be given a chance to come back next season, he should by no means come back guaranteed no1, but given the chance he could be ready to improve himself in the PL.

When going on loan to Strasbourg, Djordje Petrovic commented that he is "motivated to impress" Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca and "show his qualities" during his loan spell, highlighting his desire to prove himself and potentially earn a place in the Chelsea first team upon his return. Think he is doing that……..

Leo Castledine (Shrewsbury Town) - Attacking Midfield;

Leo is currently out injured.

Max Merrick (Hampton & Richmond) - Goalkeeper

Hampton and Richmond have been on a bad run recently, Max is playing, learning and developing which is all this loan spell is about for him.

Axel Disasi (Aston Villa) - Centre Back

He has made 3 appearances for Villa so far and looks as average as he did for us, albeit playing in his more favoured position at centre back, still looks like he is about to make a mistake consistently.

Ben Chilwell (Crystal Palce) - Left Wing-Back

Chilly has started life at Palace okay, it’s a case of minutes in the tank to start with having not really played since May. He completed full 90 in the FA Cup at the weekend and looked good in that game.

Renato Veiga (Juventus) - Centre Back

Renato is unfortunately out injured at the moment, due back after the international break he was in fine form before his injury and started life in Turin superbly at centre back, seems he was correct and that is his best position.

Zak Sturge (Millwall) - Left Back

Zak recently made his Millwall debut in a 1-0 win away at Derby, playing well in the 35 minutes he had off the bench. He was unused against Palace in the FA Cup at the weekend.

Carney Chukwuemeka (Borussia Dortmund) - Attacking Midfield

Carney has had a stop-start beginning to his Dortmund career, having a minor injury and illness in his first few weeks, back-to-back sub appearances have now seen him start to get more minutes and he will be hoping to add to those in the coming weeks.

Joao Felix (AC Milan) - Attacker

Maybe the most bipolar footballer at the most bipolar football club…… After his debut and debut goal there was uproar, Milan journalists claiming AC were already planning on signing him permanently and that there were no plans for them to let him come back to Chelsea, to not even 6/7 games later there being solid reports that there are no intention for Milan to extend Felix’s deal beyond the loan agreement. He has actually performed okay out there without many goal contributions to show for it. Where next for Joao’s career?

Alex Matos (Oxford United) - Centre Midfielder

Alex hasn’t consistently broken into the Oxford side yet, but has being playing minutes whether starting or coming off the bench in most games.

Jimmy-Jay Morgan (Gillingham) - Striker

Jimmy’s first loan has started okay, he is getting lots of minutes under his belt in a side that are bang off form currently, a goal is yet to come but his appearances seem to be good.

Just to confirm I am not updating on Raheem Sterling or Kepa Arrizabalaga on purpose.

Thanks for reading.

Luke Rushbrook