Five players Chelsea must sell in January
By Ryan Willox
1. Islam Feruz
We could have picked Kenedy, Wallace, Andreas Christensen or about a dozen others for this last player.
But instead let’s take the cautionary tale of Islam Feruz.
In the current global football market, young talent is sought after like gold dust. Global scouting and data analytics plumb great depths to unearth that next Messi or Ronaldo, or even Jamie Vardy.
Chelsea, perhaps more than any other, hedge their bets, buying in bulk and seeing what sticks.
They may be the most visible but they are certainly not the only side that operates this way.
That leads to cases line Islam Feruz. Progressing quite promisingly through the youth ranks of Celtic and Scotland, the Somalian refugee seemed on the cusp of a fledgling professional career.
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In stepped Chelsea with their loan-a-lot plan and Feruz’s career has stalled strikingly after failing to settle in Russia, Greece, England and even back in Scotland at Hibernian.
Feruz isn’t the first to be drawn by the bright lights of a Premier League giant and won’t be the last.
But the Blues would do him, and several other serial loanees, a favor by letting them go for good so they can learn their trade out of the spotlight.