Duels, key passes and fouls won – Chelsea’s debut star more than just a good story | OneFootball

Reggie Walsh was the talk of the town at Stamford Bridge tonight. The youngster – at 16 years and 200 days – made his full debut in the Conference League against Djurgarden.

Walsh shows he’s up to it on his debut

But it wasn’t just the quirk of being the club’s third youngest ever player, and their youngest ever in a European game. He also performed well, as the stats show.

Walsh’s role changed throughout the game, but he was largely in the Cole Palmer role, playing in between the lines and looking really dangerous. He flitted out to the left wing a lot, particularly in the first half, and also wasn’t afraid to attack the box.

Before the game, manager Enzo Maresca had said this was a player that was “perfect for [Chelsea’s] system,” and he certainly showed that in the game tonight.

It’s easy to see him filling in either for Palmer or Enzo Fernandez when he’s used in a more attacking role.

You can see his positional heatmap from the game here:

Reggie Walsh’s heatmap from his debut.

Stats back up eye test on wonderkid

What was really amazing was the fact he played the full 90 minutes at that age. That shows amazing physical maturity, and great promise for him in the long run. It’s almost a shame he didn’t come off a minute before the end, just so we could hear the reception he would have got from the fans at the Bridge.

Walsh completed 40 of 44 passes. One of them was a key pass, and he created one “big chance” by SofaScore’s definition. He competed defensively too, winning 4 of his 10 ground duels despite his diminutive size. He also drew 4 fouls, a team high, showing he wasn’t afraid to run with the ball when the chance presented it – and that the opposition felt they had to bring him down to stop him.