Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Chelsea have shifted out of two their strikers on loan before the end of the transfer window with both Loic Remy and Patrick Bamford joining Premier League opposition. For Frenchman Remy it is a chance to once again link up with Alan Pardew as he moves onto Crystal Palace for the season while Bamford has to once again make do with life away from Stamford Bridge as he makes do with another loan move to Burnley and the tutelage of Sean Dyche.
Remy would have been pushed down the pecking order by the arrival of Belgium’s Michuy Batushyi and his chances of getting near the first team would have been very difficult what with the resurgent return of form to Diego Costa. When given the opportunity to once again link up with Alan Pardew it seemed one that was too good to turn down. Palace fans will now be hoping that he repeats the form that he showed during his time at Newcastle when he registered 14 goals in 26 appearances, a return of just over 1 goal every other game. If he can do the same at Selhurst Park then Palace will have found the answer to the goalscoring problem which has alluded them for so long.
Whereas Patrick Bamford continues his tour as a footballing mercenary with his sixth loan move since his time at Chelsea, he has already had stints at MK Dons, Derby, Middlesbrough, Crystal Palace and Norwich. He will now add Burnley to that list but is this his last chance to prove his worth as a Premier League level forward. Loan spells at both Crystal Palace and Norwich drew a blank and he hasn’t registered a league goal since his successful spell at Middlesbrough when they went all the way to the play-off final in 2015. That time in the North East saw him score 17 times in 39 Championship appearances but since that loan spell came to an end he has no looked nowhere close to recapturing that form.
The 22 year old has lacked both confidence and full fitness in his last two loan spells and they have been nothing short of disappointing with Alan Pardew sending back after reckoning his character wasn’t right for Palace and then he was part of a Norwich squad which failed to beat the drop in May. Bamford has to quickly rediscover that scoring form otherwise his stay at Burnley is either going to be a short one or he is going to have another relegation on his C.V.
As a nation we are very quick to build up young talent only to knock them down again but does this point to more that fact Chelsea have once again become the graveyard of ambition when it comes to their young talent breaking into the first team on a permanent basis. This season could very well be make or break for Bamford success at Turf Moor could then bring him back into the Chelsea fold the season after but failure to impress and we could be seeing another talent thrown onto the scrapheap.
