This Chelsea Youngster Has A Career Defining Decision To Make…

The Under-21 European Championships were hardly stellar from an England point of view, there were only a handful of players who came out of the tournament with much credit, generally the back line did a decent job, and at the other end of the pitch Danny Wellbeck and Daniel Sturridge looked like good prospects, the less said about the midfield and in particular Jordan Henderson the better…

The former Manchester City striker and now Chelsea man has a massive decision to make this Summer and it could involve him swallowing a bit of pride and accepting he has made mistakes.  I suppose as a City fan, my feelings towards the 21 year old could be deemed bitter, but setting my club allegancies aside for a minute, his decision to quit Eastlands is now looking like a bit of an error.

Upon leaving Manchester at the end of the 08/09 season, much was written about why he was moving.  That season he had played a reasonable part in the City team and seemed to be developing well, he made 26 appearances and netted 4 times.  He was offered a new contract by the club, which was supposedly an extremely good deal considering his young age and inexperience at the time, but instead he moved to Chelsea after seemingly showing scorn towards the City offer. I don’t think anyone other than the man himself was foolish enough to think he would see more action at Stamford Bridge than he would have done at City, there is no way of knowing what he is being paid but I suspect it must be a pretty good salary.

After stagnating in London, his recent loan spell at Bolton was somewhat of a revelation after disappearing from everyones minds his 8 goal haul in 12 games has put him right back in the shop window.  He now has a really big decision to make this Summer, I personally think he is good enough to be more involved at Chelsea, but whether the clubs new coach will agree with that remains to be seen.  One thing is for sure he can’t afford to spend another year sitting on the bench he needs to be playing football regularly somewhere.

There has been much speculation over recent weeks about clubs trying to prise him away from London, Bolton, where he was so successful last season are supposed to be interested in taking him to the Reebok Stadium on a permanent basis.  Stoke are hoping that the pull of regular Europa League football might appeal to the man who probably won’t play a huge part in Chelsea’s Champions League campaign.  The list of clubs interested is growing all the time, West Brom and Newcastle have been linked with a move recently as well.

The problem facing the striker is that all the clubs lining up moves are potentially a bit below the level that the Birmingham born forward is capable of playing at.  The £6million figure that has been thrown about also seems a little low, and I think at that price he would be a real snip, if Jordan Henderson is worth £20million and Andy Carroll is worth £25million surely the England under 21 international is worth more than £6million.

I suppose there is an argument that if Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba move on this Summer the youngster might have a much better chance of getting into the Chelsea first team, but I think it is a near certainty that the there will be strengthening at the Bridge during this transfer window keeping ‘Studge’ just as far from the starting 11 as he was last season.

I think that of all the clubs linked with moves, Newcastle or Bolton would probably be the best options for the striker, they are teams that play decent football and have a chance of challenging for honours.  If his talents continue to grow there will probably be another crack at a really big club further down the line, and I am sure deep down he regrets his decision to quit City when he did.  On a more positive note he has age on his side and the move won’t have harmed his development long term, but it could be argued that it has delayed his development 12 months or so, had he stayed at Eastlands I think he would have seen more football than he has at Chelsea even with the clubs current proliferation of attackers.

There is no certainty where Sturridge will be plying his trade next season, but he has to get this decision right, he made a bad choice when he left the North West and now he has to get this one spot on…

For more of my thoughts on football, why not follow me on twitter @soccercityjoe and for all things Manchester City check out Thoughts From The Invisible Man….

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