Can Chelsea’s Loic Remy be revived post-Mourinho?
French striker Loic Remy needs to use Jose Mourinho’s departure to re-launch his career
There are many Chelsea players responsible for Jose Mourinho’s sacking at Chelsea and striker Loic Remy is certainly one of them. He never performed up to standards at Stamford Bridge after his move from Newcastle. Now, with Mourinho out of the picture, he faces a true crossroads in his career.
The rumor of the day is that Remy will take his game back to his home nation of France in the January window. St. Etienne is interested in bringing the pacy striker on-board to give him the opportunity to resurrect his career. Remy’s motivation for the move would be to receive regular playing time in an effort to cement his place for France in Euro 2016. It is an interesting potential move to say the least.
While I can certainly understand why Remy would want to retreat to his homeland to secure regular playing time, part of me feels like that is his way of admitting he isn’t the player he used to be. I would much rather see Remy try to stick things out at Chelsea. It isn’t as if they are blessed with other striking talent. All he would need to do is beat out Diego Costa to receive regular playing time. Given Costa’s lack of form on the season that isn’t exactly an insurmountable task.
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The real question is whether or not the course of Remy’s career can actually be reversed. While at Newcastle he was an absolute attacking terror. He used his pace to torment opposing defenses. His combination of speed and finishing ability led him to score 14 goals during his last season at Newcastle. Just two years ago he was seen as a very formidable Premier League striker.
His move to Chelsea just hasn’t worked out and it may prove to have derailed his career for good. He was an adequate substitute for the club last season, but this year he’s been practically invisible. He hasn’t played a full 90 minutes in a match all season and he only has one goal to his name. It’s not been pretty for Remy at Chelsea.
I might be in a minority, but I feel there’s still some talent there. I’m optimistic that if a club invests some trust in Remy and provides him a solid run of games he can rediscover a great deal of his goal scoring form. I don’t think he’s capable of leading the line at Chelsea, but mid-table Premier League clubs could do a lot worse than Remy. Are you really telling me a club like Swansea couldn’t use him every week?
Loic Remy deserves his share of the blame for Jose Mourinho’s departure but now that’s water under the bridge. He has to use this seismic event to reverse the fortunes of a once promising career.