Tyrique George accelerates shock breakthrough as Chelsea face huge summer decisions | OneFootball

Academy graduate has an extended chance to prove his worth as Blues ponder winger shake-up

The prospects of a first-team breakthrough did not look particularly encouraging for Tyrique George at the start of the season. Indeed, if there was one thing Chelsea didn’t need, it was probably another winger.

Then there was Cole Palmer (£40m), whose own epic breakthrough campaign had come playing off the right, as well as Joao Felix (£45m) and Christopher Nkunku (£52m), slight positional nomads who could crop up on the flanks as well. Even Raheem Sterling (£45m) was knocking around until deadline day, when he joined Arsenal on loan.

Steadily, though, the picture has changed. Mudryk failed a drugs test. Felix was packed off to AC Milan on loan, six months into a seven-year deal. Nkunku was cast first as a reserve striker, then back-up No10 before last weekend being dropped from the squad entirely.

Palmer has played exclusively in a central role, while Madueke missed two months with a hamstring problem in the early spring. Neto has been inconsistent and Sancho failed to convince.

And so, as the weeks and months have worn on, the odd opportunity has begun to quietly fall George’s way, in the Conference League mainly to start with, but more recently in aid of Chelsea’s push for the top five and a return to the Champions League.

Sunday’s first Premier League goal, which sparked a dramatic late comeback win at Fulham, may yet prove among the most crucial of the campaign.

Making an impact: George’s timely strike at Craven Cottage followed his first senior goal against Legia Warsaw in the Conference League

Action Images via Reuters

"Sometimes you also have to be a little bit lucky and I think Tyrique's goal gave us an extra energy, an extra boost,” Maresca said at full-time.

‘Energy’ has been the word most often used to describe George’s cameos, the latest of which came at Craven Cottage when sent on to play through the middle in place of Nicolas Jackson, who has not looked sharp - physically or in front of goal - since returning from injury.

Typically, the 19-year-old darts around, looks positive, drives at his full-back and brings a feeling of purpose to what, too often in recent months, have been wandering, one-paced Chelsea displays.

Now, though, he is adding goals, two in three matches after opening his senior account away to Legia Warsaw earlier this month. Among supporters, calls are growing for him to be handed a first league start when Everton visit Stamford Bridge next weekend.

“We all know how good of a player he is, to come in and score gives him a confidence boost,” Levi Colwill said of his fellow Cobham academy gradate. “Hopefully, he keeps pushing and he tries getting into our side, because that’s why he’s here, because he’s an amazing player.

“He’s not there to sit on the bench. He’s there to come on and play.”

It is not just for the apparent winger logjam that George’s breakthrough this season has been surprising. Though clearly highly-regarded inside the club - he was handed a new three-year contract last summer - George had not attracted the external hype of, say, Mikey Moore at Tottenham or Ethan Nwaneri at Arsenal, players whose rises carry an air of inevitability.

There was more buzz around Josh Acheampong, the right-back promoted to the first team alongside George earlier this season, partly because he had a more obvious route into the side amid Reece James’ injury problems.

These next few months have the potential to be pivotal in the story of Tyrique George’s Chelsea career

The challenge now for George is to make it stick. These next few months have the potential to be pivotal in the story of his Chelsea career, which is an odd thing to say given that ordinarily there would be only about four weeks of football left to play.

Instead, though, after fighting on two fronts until the end, they will jet off to America for the Club World Cup. So, where, for instance, Liverpool have just five games left to play this season, Chelsea could play 15.

Within that, there will surely be plenty of opportunity for George, particularly now he has shown flashes of his ability to play through the middle, as well as out wide.

Chelsea have decisions to make over their wide stock this summer, with Sancho’s future at the end of his loan up in the air, Brazilian sensation Estevao Willian due to arrive and the club keen to make another statement addition on the flanks.

At the start of this campaign, it felt unlikely George’s name would feature too heavily in calculations. Now he has chance to make sure it still does by the start of the next.