John Terry announced at the weekend that this, his 21st year at Chelsea will be his last, and an MLS swansong alongside his former England teammates, Steven Gerrard and Ashley Cole looks like a real possibility. This leave’s a huge hole in the Blues defence just waiting to be filled. There has already been plenty of speculation on who Chelsea will bring in to fill the void, but maybe they have signed him already.
The $5,000,000 purchase of Matt Miazga from New York Red Bulls may have gone unnoticed by many soccer fans on this side of the pond, but followers of the MLS will know that Chelsea have just brought themselves a young defender with plenty of potential.
The New Jersey born centre back made his Red Bulls debut at the age of 18 in 2013 and established himself as a first team regular during the last MLS campaign. He has represented the USA at every age level and earned his first senior cap in a World Cup qualifier in November. Miazga is tall and athletic, strong in the tackle and reads the game really well. He is by no means the finished article, but he looks to have all the attribute to make a top defender at club level and provide a wonderful foil for the ever dependable Matt Besler in the USA national side.
According to an article on goal.com, Miazga has always wanted to strut his stuff on the European stage, so a move to one of the world’s biggest football teams will have been a dream come true. The main problem he now faces isn’t with his own game, but within the club he has just joined.
Chelsea don’t have a good reputation when it comes to blooding young players. They seem to have developed more of a stock-pilling system, where they bring in young talents from around the world, ship them off on loan to feeder clubs around Europe, before attempting to sell them on at a profit.
Currently, Chelsea have 35 players out on loan, which compared to other Premier League sides is an astonishingly high amount. They also signed young defender Michael Hector in the summer, who has very similar attributes to Miazga, before loaning him straight back to Reading.
I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest to see Miazga go out on loan, with lower English sides or Vitesse Arnhem in Holland being the most likely destinations. I just hope that at some point during his time in England, he gets the opportunity to prove how good he is. As well as showing European fans how much the development of American soccer players has improved over the last five years.
Whatever happens though, it is clear Matt Miazga is one for the future.
