Touted as the next John Terry, Michael Mancienne has endured a frustrating time so far at Chelsea. The England Under-21 international has been at the club since he was a schoolboy but despite his enormous potential has only started twice for the senior side in his 14 years with the Blues.
His lack of opportunities at Stamford Bridge caused Mancienne to look elsewhere for first-team football and Chelsea duly sent the youngster on loan. Mancienne joined Chelsea’s West London neighbours QPR on loan where he spent two successful seasons from 2006-2008. His impressive displays at Loftus Road attracted the attention of Wolves who subsequently loaned Mancienne twice; once in 2008 and again last season where he helped Wolves stay in the Premier League. His performances at Molineux caught the attention of England boss Fabio Capello who named Mancienne in his England squad to face Germany in November 2008 while on loan with Wolves in the Championship.
With his future seemingly bright, Mancienne has returned to Chelsea this season on a mission to break into the first-team. However, he is faced with a seriously uphill task. At his preferred position at centre-back, Chelsea already boast a number of senior players including club captain John Terry, Alex, Ricardo Carvalho and Branislav Ivanovic all vying for a place in the team. Not only that, Mancienne has to compete with another up and coming talent Jeffrey Bruma.
Bruma was integral to Chelsea’s FA Youth Cup success last season and has impressed Carlo Ancelotti enough for him to give the Dutchman a couple of substitute appearances last season. Like Mancienne, Bruma has been called up to the national team, with Bert van Marwijk naming the Chelsea starlet in an upcoming friendly against Ukraine on 11th August.
Despite the fierce competition, Mancienne has expressed a desire to remain at his boyhood club and fight for a place in the starting line-up. Chelsea have issued a statement denying that Mancienne has handed in a transfer request amidst speculation that the defender would be interested in re-joining Wolves.
His desire to stay at Chelsea could be a result of the Premier League’s new squad rules. Under the new regulations, each Premier League squad must have 25 players of which 8 have to be ‘home-grown’. Having spent his entire career so far on the books at Stamford Bridge, Mancienne would comfortably qualify as one of the eight ‘home-grown’ players that have to be included in next season’s squad. With the prospect of inclusion in Ancelotti’s squad, there is still hope that Mancienne could feature more prominently for Chelsea in the coming season.
Like my article? Follow me on Twitter or subscribe to my RSS feed.
Click on image to see a gallery of the BEST BABES at the World Cup this summer
