Caleb Wiley is on his way back to Vicarage Road.
Wiley has rejoined EFL Championship side Watford on a season-long loan from Chelsea, both clubs announced Tuesday. The American fullback spent the second half of last season at Watford, earning important playing time in one of Europe’s tougher leagues.
“We are delighted to have secured Caleb on loan once more,” said Sporting Director Gian Luca Nani. “He was impressive in the games he played for us last season and his attitude is incredible.
“To have him for a full season means we have the talent and consistency Paulo wants defensively,” Nani added.
Wiley overcame a shoulder injury to make his Watford debut last March. He proceeded to make 10 appearances for the club under Tom Cleverley’s tutelage, registering two assists.
Prior to his move to Watford, Wiley spent the first half of the European season on loan at Ligue 1 side Strasbourg.
The 20-year-old originally came up through the Atlanta United ranks and has earned three caps with the U.S. men’s national team to date.
Watford opens the 2025-26 season at Charlton Athletic on August 9.
What is up with all of these “US Nats in Yellow”??
Yellow Submarine was released on July 17, 1968, exactly 57 years ago.
Alexi Lalas is 55 but people make mathematical errors all the time.
Seems like a good decision. Caleb settled in well their January and having some continuity should help his growth.
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Cavan Sullivan is training with Manchester City for the next few weeks. Apparently, this is part of the loan agreement.
the overall concept is “crocked.” yet another CFC endless loan carousel. they don’t seem to want to sell and we hold our breath every time the loan ends.
i am sure this is lucrative but don’t see where it’s helped scott, miazga, gaga, etc. if they’re not sold it’s a crapshoot does the next landing spot like them as much.
That’s why it’s good he’s at least going back to the same loan club. I guess the good thing is LB is probably the weakest position at Chelsea although Cucherella did fairly well at CWC.
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Kyle Scott that’s a name I hadn’t thought about in awhile. He actually only went on one loan to Telstar for four months then Chelsea let him go to Newcastle on a free transfer, who only used him on their youth team for 6 months, and then they released him to go to Cincinnati. Cincinnati only held onto him for 3 months before he joined Orange County on a free. Apparently he just joined Crowley Town in League Two back in England.
Wiley makes 835,000 a year, so quite a bit more than his ATL salary on his initial contract. That’s the same as Aiden Morris also in the Championship. Just a little less than Paredes’s 1,043,000 at Wolfsburg. So not crazy money.
I’m with you IV that “our” players have yet to benefit from being a part of the Chelsea loan army, and the one first team player that we had in their building for an extended period of time in Pulisic, wasn’t treated the best from a on-field positional standpoint(although recurring injuries may have had something to do with that)if we’re being honest!
Ronnie I’m not sure that’s true. Everyone knew Miazga was not EPL level when he went. Yet they still gave him 2 matches. Then he had good loans 2 years with same club in Eredivisie, Anderlecht under Kompany, Ligue 1, Reading, La Liga. He had opportunities at all those places but no one was interested in him. Chelsea would have sold him, but offers didn’t come.
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As for Gaga, he played in Belgium, at Barnsley the team was better with him in goal but it’s hard to player keeper with a finger injury. My bigger fear with Gaga is that Chelsea will loan the other guys and he’ll be the third keeper and not play at all.
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Caleb is fine, he’s only 20. I think he’s got one more loan year next year (to a top 5 league), like Ian Maatsen. Then either Chelsea sign you or you make a move to a big club. Chalobah and Cowell both went on loans and now have spots with the first team. If Caleb is good enough Chelsea will play him.
IV,
“but don’t see where it’s helped scott, miazga, gaga, etc. if they’re not sold it’s a crapshoot does the next landing spot like them as much.”
That’s because you are blindly prejudiced against the loan system and seeing the good in it would not fit your narrative.
You’re trying to sell us the extremely debatable narrative that Gaga, Miazga, Scott, Steffen, etc., would now be international regulars if not for the fucking loan system which clearly sabotaged them.
The loan system is now a pretty integral part of how many of how teams with larger squads deal with players of worth who need games to maintain their form or to develop it further. It’s not going away anytime soon so people like Wiley and Turner need to learn how to make the most of the loan.