Opinion: Does Storer Deserve A Chance?

As an advocate of the youth game, I am always watching games at the development level. Personally, I think that the U23 leagues and below are not competitive enough. The standard isn’t that high and often it can be too easy for players who develop faster to stand out rather than those with a footballing brain. I know Chelsea have been criticised for loaning a lot of players out, but I do still feel that loans to a decent League One/Championship side will do more for a players development than in the leagues represented by age groups.

The reason I have mentioned this is in regards to Jack Storer. If we forget attitude for a minute and focus purely on ability, then Storer is too good for the development leagues. He stands out in the same way that Brown now does at that level. They outclass opponents and the level isn’t stretching them and therefore is detrimental to their overall growth as footballers. So what can be done with these types of players?

I personally believe that unless you’re willing to make the commitment that they will regularly be in the first team squad, then they should go out on loan. A lot of the better footballers have been out on loan including David Beckham to Preston. Despite this being only for a month, the regular game time did help him and he personally has been quoted to say that his confidence improved a lot. The likes of Jesse Lingard who was on loan at Birmingham City has now gone on to get an England cap and score in the FA Cup final. So loans are good and most players do benefit a lot from them.

I would prefer loan spells to be in this country. I know a lot of the Chelsea players have sent them out to Europe such as Chalobah who went to Napoli for a bit. But the English game is so different that I am an advocate of staying in this country to learn the trade; increase fitness and overall become a better player.

In terms of Storer, I see this as the best option. He isn’t going to get into the squad ahead of our strikers, that’s for sure. He also needs to mature in terms of his attitude a bit which a loan spell would help as it would make him more grounded and often managers in lower divisions tend to be a bit more direct in their approach. It would take the right manager to get the best out of Jack but someone like Gary Johnson at Bristol City would do a great job.

All in all, do I think he should be in the squad? No. I have believe in young talents and I think that Viv and Brown should be in the squad more than they’re. But I don’t think Jack is ready to play a part in the squad just yet until he has become more consistent.