'He always showed his quality in training' - Chelsea boss admits he admires young winger Anjorin

Published: August 04, 2021

Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel made a lot of changes around the 60-minute mark in Wednesday evening's friendly against Tottenham Hotspur and one of the players that came on was Faustino Anjorin.

Compared to other Chelsea academy youngsters, Anjorin seems to be having a different pathway because he has been training with the first team under the German football tactician for a long time.

Tuchel was set to run the rule over the Anglo-Nigerian in the preparatory matches with Peterborough United, Bournemouth and Arsenal, only for him to test positive for coronavirus that kept him sidelined for approximately two weeks.

Speaking post-match, Tuchel clearly showed his admiration for Anjorin but pointed out that the England youth international is lacking fitness at the moment.

Asked to comment on the progress of Anjorin and if the winger was going to be staying around this season, Tuchel told reporters including Football. London : "I'm a bit sad because he trained so, so well for us in the last half year, but the race for top four was on and there were so many decisive matches every three days, so it wasn't the time to try stuff with young players. But he always showed his quality in training.

"When the season ended we agreed he stays for pre-season and he'd get the minutes he deserves. Unfortunately, before the first friendly, Tino was the guy to test positive for Covid and really suffered for ten, 12 days.

"You could see today that it was the first time he was back on the pitch and it was a lot for him to start with 30 minutes.

"I just wished we had the possibility to see him against Peterborough, Bournemouth and Arsenal so he could really make a statement.

"Now the season more or less starts again. So he has suffered without having any responsibility for it.

"The situation is maybe a bit unchanged for him. The most important thing is for him to get fit, he had some trouble to adapt to the intensity. I think he struggles a little from his illness, so we have to be very careful about him".

Since the appointment of Tuchel as Chelsea boss, Anjorin has made only one competitive appearance for the first team, against Barnsley in the FA Cup, and was a non-playing substitute against Atlético Madrid, Fulham and Arsenal.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel

Photo Credit : chelseafc.com

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