Tyrique George on “weird” thing that happened as he made first team debut | OneFootball

Chelsea’s club website has just done a nice little feature on Tyrique George and his rise from the academy to the first team.

The young winger just made his second appearance of the Club World Cup and scored a nice goal from range, making it a perfect time to remind ourselves of his rapid rise.

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George on “weird” twist of fate that saw him explode to first team

Tyrique George slams in Chelsea goal. (Photo by Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)

This time a year ago he was a youth star, but few would have predicted the number of appearances he’d have 12 months later. Even the winger himself has found his ascent hard to digest:

“It’s a little weird that I was in the Under-21s and then straight into the first team. I’m not too sure how I did it. I just worked hard, really. Every day in training, I just try to show that I want to play,” the winger said.

The suspension of Mykhailo Mudryk has to be the real twist of fate here – it is certainly “weird” to have a player banned suddenly and indefinitely, and George seized the chance to hoover up those Conference League minutes and never looked back.

Time up front helps George keep in Maresca’s thinking

Another break came in the spring, when both Nicolas Jackson and Marc Guiu got injured at the same time. George was then used regularly up front while they recovered.

“I was playing as a striker, and I’ll go anywhere, play anywhere,’ he says. ‘I just want to get minutes and get on the pitch.”

The highlight of that spell was without doubt the equaliser against Fulham which turned that game and ended our run of bad form, eventually setting us up for a Champions League place.