We can’t be anything but grateful to Vitesse. They’ve literally saved us millions of pounds from wasting talent. Vitesse and Chelsea’s relationship arose very recently, both OWNERS previously shared a healthy relationship, and have now used that trust in their business ventures. I must admit, there were several doubts in my mind and many others’ regarding Vitesse’s ability to house and develop talent that we have invested so much into. It came to a point where we were desperate to offload talents in our reserves to make space for new ones.
It worked awkwardly, having only commenced a squad overhaul after 7-8 years of using the same first team. Implementing youth was obviously not our forté. What we were good at was purchasing top talents for large amounts of money. However, the board realized that this would soon have to come to a halt, and decided to take action immediately, spending cleverly on youth talents around the world. We had scouts posted in Europe and South America, and we’ve managed to acquire some high quality talent.
However, the next step is where we found our inexperience working against us. We won several trophies while acquiring these players, but the main objective was not being met – Developing these players for them to reach the next level, the first team level. We then started to loan out our highest achievers, and sold players, like Miroslav Stoch and Scott Sinclair, who had outgrown their loan teams and managed to find a new, permanent home.
The problem with this was the players that went out on loan were either not getting enough game time or were not played in the right positions. In stepped Vitesse Arnhem, a club full of ambition, a club whose owner announced his objective – To build a ‘super team’. And he’s not done a shabby job either. Vitesse have since gone on to build a team that, in the Dutch League, has looked brilliant. Players like Wilfried Bony, Marco van Ginkel, Renato Ibarra have played and grown at Vitesse. While their own have grown, they have also managed to strike gold in agreeing several loan deals with Chelsea.
And we should really hope that  the relationship between Chelsea and Vitesse would benefit both teams going into the future. Vitesse have qualified for the Europa League and Chelsea are really benefiting by the way our youngsters are getting first team opportunities and we got Van Ginkel for a fair price considering his talent and potential. It would be a little under estimation to call them our Real Reserves but, our mutual partners – two clubs with a HIGH ambitions and much desire to succeed in the long term. The owners as well aren’t at the club to do business but, for the love of the game and pure passion to see their team succeed.
What do you think of Vitesse Arnhem? Leave us with your opinions below and Thanks for reading!