The Future of Josh McEachran

After recent cameo in Chelsea pre-season against Malaysia, I believe many of us were impressed with Josh McEachran. It was short event for him that I believe many of us still curious on what he can really give into the table. Alas, Jose Mourinho still not convinced by him and already decided that Josh will go on loan for this season.
Josh McEachran is a Chelsea schoolboy who, to many sections of fans, was pretty famous thanks to Carlo Ancelotti who gave him first debut at 17 against MSK Zilina. His performance was awesome for any 17 year old debutant especially considering it was Champions League game. His touches and his passes were brilliant which made us think that this guy could be the next John Terry, a schoolboy who walked into first team quite smoothly.
It was under Andre Villas-Boas when Josh McEachran seemed to lose his spot. Villas-Boas claimed that Josh wasn’t ready yet for Chelsea level. That might be true since Josh was still so young and so raw. Like any other kids, all he needed was game time and experience. With the arrival of Raul Meireles, the chance of Josh to play was so small that it could damage his development. Put aside the fact that Villas-Boas thought that Frank Lampard wasn’t good enough for Chelsea – his decision to send Josh on loan was a better one since he’d get some minutes outside The Bridge.
Josh then went on loan to Swansea to learn from Rodgers, who claimed he knew Josh since his early coaching days at Chelsea academy. At first I thought it was sensible decision since Rodgers is a man who fully trusted Chelsea youngsters/former Chelsea players to help his Swansea side to get promoted. Scott Sinclair, Fabio Borini, and Yves Makabu Makalambay were names that Rodgers signed to help Swansea promoted to English Premier League for the first time in history. With that in mind, it seems logical for Chelsea and Josh to trust him. Alas, it all went wrong. It was pretty annoying moment for Chelsea fans since Josh rarely got playing time due to the arrival of Gylfi Sigurdsson.
After that disappointing loan spell, Josh tried new adventure at Middlesbrough. Under guidance of Tony Mowbray, he was so-so. He still had so much brilliant touches but he never really got himself doing brilliant things on regular basis. Considering it was lower level than Premier League, it’s understood why he couldn’t establish himself in senior squad. I assumed that it was also due to Tony Mowbray’s incompetency to make the best use of McEachran. As bad as Stuart Pearce at England U-21, Josh looked ineffectual for both teams. Despite average performance in overall, his touches and passes were still delightful. He was awarded Middlesbrough’s young player of the season though, describing how poor Middlesbrough was which made Josh – who wasn’t impressive by Chelsea standard – still managed to win that.
A Little Comparison To Andrea Pirlo
It’s interesting to speak about where Josh should play in midfield. He’s far from being complete central midfielder like Marco Van Ginkel, strong like Essien (years ago), quick like Ramires, or has vision to create goal like Frank Lampard. It also seems difficult for him to occupy attacking midfielder spot at the moment. As there are Juan Mata, Eden Hazard, Oscar, and De Bruyne who are so much better players than him in that position. Wide milfielder and defensive midfielder are obviously not suitable for him.
Josh’s specific techniques are his controls, touches, and passes. Other than that, he’s not special. However, good control and touch are the basic things that any worldclass footballers should have, and good pass is the most important attribute for playmakers. Yet he still needs to improve in his positional and movement, Josh already has equipments to be good playmaker. Then again, it’s difficult for him to replace Mata, Hazard, Oscar, and De Bruyne at the moment. With that in mind, I come to conclusion that his best position for Chelsea would be deep-lying playmaker. Let’s say, he could be the English Pirlo.
Pirlo is worldclass player but actually what he really has is very limited. He’s slow, physically weak, doesn’t do tackle and intercept much but he’s totally passing masterclass. Now look back at Josh. The difference between them, in my eyes, are only their positioning, vision, and experience. Which Pirlo is much better than Josh. But at 21, Josh still has time to improve.
I believe that Josh is really special player and potentially he could be as good as Pirlo. I’m confident saying this since Pirlo was as average as Josh when he was young and played for Inter. He had tremendous techniques but his coach at Inter wasn’t able to unleash his potential. He was an ineffectual offensive midfielder at Inter until he became deep-lying midfielder during his loan at Brescia. Surprisingly, it was huge success but Inter refused to use him and sold him to Milan, where he was so influential and won everything at club level. Most notably, 2 Champions League trophies. Not to mention that he was brilliant as well in World Cup 2006 and he was arguably the best playmaker in that competition.
However, people seem to forget that Pirlo wasn’t alone in doing that job. He was (and he is) surrounded by another top class midfielders to produce such brilliant rhythm. As we understand that Pirlo isn’t complete footballer, he needs midfielders who can do the defensive job, the marauding job, or anything. At Milan – Gattuso and Seedorf, at Italy 2006 – Gattuso and De Rossi, and at Juventus – Marchisio and Vidal. Pirlo isn’t alone in being worldclass since he works with other brilliant players too. Basically it’s not something surprising as the concept of midfielder itself is an effective unit. Not individual. For example, see Xavi-Iniesta-Busquets.
No matter how great they’re indivdually, they work together as a unit.
That said, with improvement in several aspects and letting other talents to support Josh, he could make the same impact like Pirlo in the future. But we can’t expect him to shine immediately as Pirlo himself found minutes and experience on loan at Regina and Brescia. To copy Pirlo, Josh still needs couple of loan and also, a manager who realizes his best position. Here’s hoping that Jose Mourinho will trust Josh and give him chance to shine at Chelsea next season.