While Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Nottingham Forest brought an end to Chelsea’s five-game winning streak, it did at least see the continuation of Jadon Sancho’s promising start to life at Chelsea.
Chelsea have an obligation to buy Sancho from Manchester United next summer for a fee of around £25million, as long as they finish in the top 14, which all surely agree they comfortably will.
Away from the harsh spotlight at Old Trafford, back in Germany with Borussia Dortmund last season Sancho made a quiet return to something like his previous best, when between 2017 and 2021 he had been one of Europe’s most prolific attackers.
After a new fresh start at Chelsea he continues to move on an upward trajectory.
Sancho is still 24 and at a crossroads in his career. Will he ever return to the level of his Dortmund vintage? Chelsea certainly hope so, and their decision to inherit his steep wages show the faith they have placed in him.
A chaotic club in recent seasons, Chelsea now appears quite a stable environment for a player like Sancho.
Enzo Maresca’s favoured player on the left wing, Sancho is getting plenty of game time in a team full of other high-class attackers given licence to combine with each other in a fluid system.
The Forest match may have been his first full 90 minutes for Chelsea, but it was also his first Premier League appearance for the Blues in which he failed to register an assist, having done so in last month’s wins against Bournemouth, West Ham and Brighton.
But to reduce Sancho’s appeal to simply a numbers game would do his talent a disservice.
His ability to drop his shoulder and beat a full-back with ease was demonstrated on Sunday as he bamboozled Ola Aina, particularly in the first half. Little wonder Maresca was heard shouting at him to remind him to stay wide; the Italian sensed Sancho could do damage in one-on-ones against Aina.
Sancho won four of the five duels he contested, exchanged snappy, intricate passes with Cole Palmer, and once or twice cut onto his right foot and ventured into more central areas.
Greater confidence and efficiency in the final third is still needed and will surely come, yet Sancho no longer looks like the lost soul he embodied at United. There is a purpose to his play once more.
“Jadon was very good”, Maresca said after the game. “Jadon is doing exactly what we expected from him, and once again he was good today.”
That is good for Chelsea as well as for him. In a few months, who knows, it could be good for England again too and if he remains a while away from international recognition for now.
Besides United, who he is ineligible to face, Chelsea’s upcoming league fixtures are against Liverpool, Newcastle and Arsenal.
Yes, it bodes well that Sancho will go into those games on the back of improving form, but such high-profile matches will also present a challenge for the winger. Assists at Bournemouth are an important step, but can Sancho now go up another notch and deliver in the matches where Chelsea most need him to?
“We are very happy with where we are, but we can do better”, Maresca said of Chelsea on Sunday. The same could be said of Sancho.
