Why Jamie Gittens Could Suffer At Chelsea Under Xabi Alonso After Roma Loan Rejected | OneFootball

Jamie Gittens has been an unused substitute in Chelsea's first two Premier League games.

Jamie Gittens is now expected to stay at Chelsea after AS Roma’s unsuccessful initial loan approach, but it may not be good news for the winger.

According to RMC Sport, Chelsea have rejected Roma’s initial approach over a potential loan deal for Gittens.

The 22-year-old was reported to be possibly heading to Italy on loan, but he is now likely to stay in west London this season. Roma’s decision to close the door on Manu Kone’s potential move to Chelsea likely played a part as well.

So what now for Gittens?

Potentially another difficult season for Gittens

It is obvious why Chelsea want to keep the English winger. Having offloaded Alejandro Garancho to Aston Villa on loan with an option to buy, Gittens is the only natural left winger left in the squad.

The problem is that Xabi Alonso does not really use a left winger in his preferred 3-4-2-1 formation, which has two number 10s instead.

It is therefore no surprise that Gittens has struggled to get minutes early this season. He was left unused on the bench in Chelsea’s Premier League wins over Fulham and Brighton & Hove Albion and only played 10 minutes in the Carabao Cup second-round win over Luton Town last week.

The situation is unlikely to change any time soon, considering how successful Chelsea have been in attack.

A left winger is not entirely obsolete, however; hence Chelsea’s desire to keep him. Alonso wants to remain tactically flexible, as shown by his deployment of a 4-2-3-1 formation against Luton Town, and having different profiles of players often comes in handy.

Unfortunately for Gittens, even when a left winger spot is available, club-record signing Morgan Rogers is still ahead of him in the pecking order.

Is there a solution to Gittens’ woes?

It may be an adapt-or-die situation for the winger, figuratively, of course.

Alonso recently clarified that he does not really differentiate between a winger and a wing-back, but rather sees individuals based on their qualities.

Pedro Neto, for example, has proved that he is perfectly capable of playing as a right wing-back, and as a result, has featured in each of the opening three games, twice as a substitute and once as a starter.

Gittens is likely still at a disadvantage when competing for the left wing-back spots with full-backs, such as Jorrel Hato and Pep Chavarria, but he cannot afford to be picky about opportunities to get on the pitch.

It is worth noting that for the left-sided number 10 spot, Gittens is not necessarily the second option after Rogers. Joao Pedro and Danny Welbeck can play in this position as well, albeit more as deep-lying forwards than attacking midfielders.

He already played as a left wing-back in pre-season, twice, in fact, as a starter against Johor Darul Ta’zim and as a substitute against Real Sociedad. He should already be familiar with what Alonso expects from his wide players.

Gittens, who joined Chelsea from Borussia Dortmund last summer for £48.5m plus a further £3.5m in add-ons, already had an underwhelming debut season at Stamford Bridge.

He bagged just one goal and five assists from 27 appearances for the Blues before sustaining a hamstring injury in February that forced him to sit out the rest of last season.