Chelsea’s wonderkid sends Mauricio Pochettino a clear message that he has exactly what the Blues require right now.
This summer, Chelsea welcomed several new players to Stamford Bridge, but others had to be loaned out.
Angelo Gabriel has reminded Mauricio Pochettino of what he may have had at Chelsea this season. The Blues signed the 18-year-old winger from Santos earlier this summer for roughly £13 million, and after impressing in pre-season, he was loaned out to Strasbourg.
On the first weekend of the Ligue 1 season, Gabriel made his debut for the French club with a 10-minute cameo against Olympique. He was given half an hour off the bench against Monaco after catching the eye, but Strasbourg were already three-nil up at the time.
The Brazil Under-20 international was then benched against Toulouse before making another brief appearance against Nice. Gabriel earned his first start for the club in the French side’s first game back after the international break, a 2-2 tie with Montpellier, and he certainly made an impression.
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The Brazilian wonderkid was the highest-rated player in French media, completing four important passes for Strasbourg. Gabriel’s superb performance came as Chelsea were restricted to a goalless draw at Bournemouth, providing Pochettino with a timely reminder of what he could have had at his disposal.
While the west Londoners created chances, they failed to convert them, which has been a recurring problem this season. And, with Noni Madueke missing from the matchday roster, Gabriel would have been an ideal sub for Raheem Sterling.
Pochettino delivered his opinion on the match after the draw with Bournemouth. “I think again, it’s to talk about deserve, but the chances we created in the first 20, 25 minutes, I think we deserved to score at this point,” the Blues manager added.The game then became more open, and I believe we wanted to win in the last 15, 20 minutes. However, we occasionally began to disorganize our defense with the full back.
