The forgotten £25m midfielder left without a space in Chelsea’s squad once again | OneFootball

Chelsea’s move for Lesley Ugochukwu was a slightly surprising one at the time. It came out of nowhere, and seemed a little unnecessary given they signed Romeo Lavia and Moises Caicedo the same summer, as well as having Andrey Santos and Cesare Casadei among their many options on the bench.

Things have not become any clearer since then. After getting some sporadic use in his first season totalling 12 first team league appearances with lots of small injuries hurting his chances of getting more regular game time, the Frenchman was loaned out to Southampton last summer.

That was rather puzzling, as the Blues then also loaned out Santos for a second year in a row. Ugochukwu would have been the perfect player to have on the books this year to cover for Moises Caicedo and Lavia, who once again missed most of the campaign hurt.

Instead we’ve had to see a lot of Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (another inexplicable midfield addition) often playing a role which doesn’t really suit him. All the while with two really handy Caicedo alternatives on our books but playing for other teams.

Ugochukwu another victim of Chelsea’s puzzling succession plan

Lesley Ugochukwu controls midfield against West Ham. (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)

The loan to Southampton hasn’t gone well. He’s not played much, even for a historically bad team. He would likely have played just as much or more had he stayed at Chelsea where there’s been a load of cup minutes to soak up.

To make things even stranger, we now look to have replaced him before he ever got a chance. Dario Essugo will arrive this summer and all the reports about that move say that he is the chosen Caicedo reliever. Mathis Amougou was signed in January, too.

Where does this leave the obviously talented Ugochukwu? A player we paid almost £25m for less than two years ago? We don’t know, but there never seems to have been much of a plan for him.