After his excellent performance against the Blues on Sunday afternoon, a Chelsea academy graduate has expressed his gratitude to his former employers
On Sunday afternoon, Chelsea were condemned to a 3-0 defeat at home to Manchester City on match day 32 of the Premier League season, making it six defeats from the last seven games.
Although the first-half performance was generally fine, we saw yet another second-half collapse from a team that simply looks very mentally fragile. A team that cannot deal with any adversity.
There was a telling moment in the game. Twelve minutes into the second half, Marc Guehi expertly controlled a fizzed pass on the turn, before slotting into the bottom corner with a Harry Kane-esque finish.
A moment that sums up the last few years at Chelsea. An academy graduate scored against the team assembled for two billion pounds. A very good way to show that money does not always equal success.
It was not just the goal, either. During the game, Guehi won 8/9 duels, made three interceptions, blocked two shots, and had 118 touches. A dominant performance on and off the ball. Far superior to the performance of the £80m Wesley Fofana.
Speaking since the game, the 25-year-old spoke (via Lloyd Canfield) of his gratitude to Chelsea, despite being let go without having made a first team appearance: "If anything, I'm more grateful (about how things worked out for him at Stamford Bridge).
It's a bit weird, I came from Chelsea and the academy, and I wouldn't be here without the coaches in the academy, the staff, the players I played with, so weirdly I'm really grateful for getting me to this point."
Now, some fans have taken issue with Guehi expressing that it's weird he's grateful, suggesting it's obvious he should be grateful, given he was at Chelsea for 14 years.
However, you know what he means. He's suggesting that it doesn't matter that he wasn't given a chance, and that he is still thankful to the club for what they did to him, rather than bitter about it.
Meanwhile, further issues have been raised regarding the celebration of his goal on Sunday. Again, a non-issue. A huge goal in the context of the title race, why would you not celebrate? He did not antagonize or taunt the Chelsea fans, so it is a completely fair game.
Ironically, Guehi was not the only former Chelsea academy player in the City squad, with Nathan Ake also on the bench for Pep Guardiola's side.
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