A look at the progress of Chelsea’s key loan stars

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Charly Musonda at Real Betis

While a knee injury has kept him on the sidelines for most of this season, Musonda enjoyed an incredible time during the second half of the 2015/16 campaign. The Belgian winger and attacking midfielder started in all-but-two of Betis’ games and has generally impressed throughout his time with the club. His attacking flair and maturity beyond his years make him a prime candidate to be a long-term replacement for any of Chelsea’s front three.

Kasey Palmer at Huddersfield

Huddersfield’s surprise ascent to the play-off places in the Championship has been the result of many factors. Nonetheless, one of the most important reasons for the the Terriers’ surprise season has been 20-year-old Kasey Palmer’s impressive play in the middle of the park. His ability to influence play along with his attacking threat(four goals from the deep lying playmaker role) means that he has the potential to eventually fill the shoes of any of Chelsea’s current first team midfielders.

Nathan Ake at Bournemouth

One of the few loanees to have already made a first team appearance, Ake is one of the 37 with the most senior experience. After becoming a first team regular while on loan at Watford last year, Ake was once again loaned out, this time to the south coast. Ake has once again become a fixture of his side’s starting line-up and has already scored three goals (three more than Simone Zaza) from the center of defense. Ake is the third of a three-man U-23 defense (Ake, Christensen, and Zouma) that could end up being the future of the Premier League giants.

Unimpressive:

Patrick Bamford at Burnley

After setting the world alight in the Championship while on loan at Middlesbrough two seasons ago, scoring seventeen goals en route to being named the division’s Player of the Season, Patrick Bamford has experienced three more loans spells, at Norwich, Crystal Palace, and Burnley. All three of these have yielded a grand total of zero goals over one and a half seasons. So far at Burnley this year, Bamford has played a total of thirty-one minutes and has impressed in none of them. While finding his depth in the Championship isn’t a bad thing, being 23 years of age and without a professional goal in over a year doesn’t bode well for his chances of ever making an appearance for the Chelsea first team.