A 20-year-old American centerback is Stamford Bridge bound.
In a press conference on Friday, head coach Guus Hiddink revealed Chelsea is to sign the 20-year-old American, and he will be part of the first team squad for the remainder of the season once the paperwork is complete.
Guus says Matt Miazga will be a squad player when his deal is finalised and the manager will assess his qualities in training. #CFC
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 29, 2016
The U.S. centerback will transfer from the New York Red Bulls to Chelsea for close to $5 million (£3.5 million), which was first reported by the Daily Mail.
“He (Miazga) is a promising player,” Hiddink told reporters. “We’re not rushing but he will be one of the squad members for the future. (He is a) young guy, stepping up to the national team. You can see what players are capable of in training.”
Miazga undoubtedly had a superb 2015, earning a starting spot with the Red Bulls while working his way up from the U.S. Under-20 Men’s National Team to the senior squad within a few months. He earned his first senior cap against Saint Vincent and the Grenadines in a CONCACAF World Cup qualifying match last November, which cap-tied him to the U.S. as he had ties to Poland.
The defender was recently training with the U.S. camp in preparation for upcoming friendlies against Iceland and Canada, but U.S. Soccer confirmed on social media that Miazga had left.
Could've sworn @MattMiazga3 was here when we left yesterday… #JanuaryCamp pic.twitter.com/MiJVYS1cEW
— U.S. Soccer MNT (@USMNT) January 27, 2016
What do you think of Hiddink’s comments? Think Miazga will play for Chelsea next season or do you think he will be loaned out?
Share your thoughts below.
What is happening here is outside the normal routine for Chelsea, who stockpile players like there is no tomorrow. Unless the new transfer is a big name player, he will usually not be immediately with the first team or even on he roster. New, young players are given the opportunity to train with all the first team players usually during the off-season when the coaching staff has an opportunity to evaluate the player and arrange for a loan.
Mid season additions who are put on the roster and allowed to train with the first team is not especially rare. To have a young player with no EPL experience, is.
My spidey senses tell me that there are some of the coaches at Chelsea think Miazga may be able to play for Chelsea, sooner rather than later.
Let’s remember Guus Hiddink was once considered, very seriously, for the USMNT job. He likes American Players, he brought De Marcus Beasly to PSV to replace Arjen Robben and was the coach for Beasley’s best years at PSV. Also Guus know the US as he played in the old NASL for the San Jose Earthquakes and the Washington Diplomats. And even though Hiddink is a caretaker coach at Chelsea. Miazga is picking the right coach for his introduction to Euro and EPL football, he will be given a more than fair chance.
If Miazga can impress in training, and there is no reason he should not, I really think he will get an opportunity to play this season. Most likely a friendly, but a EPL game is a real possibility
But that doesn’t mean he will get a roster spot at Chelsea next season. The odds are better he will get loaned out, BUT, the better he plays, the better the team that Chelsea will loan him out to (bigger loan fees)a mid table team in the EPL, or with Hiddinks connections, the Eredivisie seems likely.
I think the notion that they are keeping him for the 2nd half has more to do with the fact that this is the only time that they can evaluate him. The transfer window ends on January 31st. If it was a preseason transfer, you could take the entire preseason and first month of games to evaluate and decide on loans.
Why Chelsea, they kill careers? Even superstars go there to die!!!
The next MLS All-Star match should be the Chelsea Loan Army vs. the First Team.
Even if it’s just training daily against the likes of costa, oscar, pato, etc… and learning under terry and ivanovic — the experience will be invaluable
CCV getting called up to Spurs’ first team.
That’s great news. If he continues to develop we could have 3 outstanding CB’s in Brooks, Miazga and CCV for years to come.
Minor correction, I’m afraid. The source I was looking at (starsandstripesfc.com) has stepped back and merely saying his promotion is “close.” The manager’s comments make clear he’s one of the top options to replace their injured CB, and he was out of the 18 for the latest U21 matchup, so maybe he’ll make the bench tomorrow against League One competition.
That will be a major dilemma for me, Ski Fast
I doubt he will ever play a minute for Chelsea. The club will loan him out and sell him a couple of years similar to what Chelsea did with Lukaku. Chelsea buys young players and sells them to bolster their revenue with regards to FFP. As long as Matt gets good playing time and improves, where he plays doesn’t really matter.
If he turns out to be as good as Lukaku that’s fine with me. I bet Chelsea wish they had him now.
I know there’s many that have disdain for Chelsea’s business practice but unlike a lot of other big clubs they make a surprisingly good amount of money buying low and selling high on young players.
If Matt Miazga is eventually a product of that business practice it’ll be good for everyone involved, including Miazga.
Since I tend to root for Yanks abroad wherever they go, do this mean that if the kid starts actually breaking into their lineup that I will have to start liking Chelsea a bit??? :\
Its true, I will also join the annoying contingent of “blues Fans” .
Ski Fast: “Did we just become best friends?”
Chelsea: “Yep!“
I know right??! Its bad enough us Yanks Abroad fans have had to watch so many Sunderland games these last couple years…Chelsea too? I predict there will be a lot of from DLOA…
CHELSEA…LOLs.
Since they sacked Mourinho, it makes it a lot easier for me to root for Chelsea IF they pay an American. Mourinho is a great coach but he comes across like he’s a jerk.
Im feeling positive about this move. I feel like Matt will get a real shot at competing for some minutes. Chelsea plays a lot of games and that can only help the cause.
They should loan him to a lower level EPL team like Leicster or Stoke so they can concentrate on playing in the Champions League.
a lower level team as in….the team at the top of the table? who is most likely going to be playing in europe next year and chelsea is not? not sure i understand your rationale….
A lower level team like Leicester?? Have you seen the EPL table?? 20 points and 12 places separates Leicester and Chelsea. And it ain’t Leicester that’s below Chelsea!
But I get what you are saying…………………
I was just about to say…lol
Probably shouldn’t have chosen the team that’s top of the table when naming “lower level” teams. Of course, Chelsea are a huge club but given that the rest of their EPL season is pretty low stakes, maybe Miazga will get a look in a few games. I do think he’s likely to go out on loan next season unless he really impresses.
wow, you guys. pretty sure mark was joking.
If he was, the sarcasm was obviously not clear enough.
The comment would then have to include another top of the table team for it to be ironic.
Wow
That joke went over some heads.