If you look across Europe’s top five leagues, you’ll be able to spot so many former Chelsea players now plying their trade elsewhere and doing extremely well.
Rio Ferdinand has said nobody at Stamford Bridge will be surprised by how well one former Blues man is playing this season.
Our fear is that there’s individuals in Mauricio Pochettino’s current squad that will go on to achieve their potential at a different club. For example, 24-year-old Conor Gallagher is an exciting Chelsea player tipped with a potential exit from Stamford Bridge in the summer.
Dominic Solanke finally fulfilling his potential
Dominic Solanke, who’s now aged 26, spent his youth in Chelsea’s academy as an extremely highly-rated talent.
But the Englishman failed to crack the first-team fold at Stamford Bridge, making only one senior appearance. He was let go in 2017 and snapped up by Liverpool on a free transfer.
Thankfully, he found a permanent home when he joined Bournemouth in 2019.
The Bournemouth centre-forward is currently enjoying the standout season of his senior career so far, scoring 18 goals in 35 games across all competitions. This includes 16 goals in the Premier League.
Solanke wasn’t the player to break the recent striker curse at Stamford Bridge, but he’s been one of the Premier League’s outstanding attackers this year.
Interestingly, journalist Simon Phillips reported via Substack back in December that Chelsea were not considering resigning Solanke.
What Rio Ferdinand has said about Dominic Solanke
Rio Ferdinand has shared that he doesn’t think anyone at Chelsea will be surprised by the success Solanke is now having at Bournemouth.
When discussing Solanke on FIVE’s YouTube channel, Ferdinand said: “He’s always been talked about as great potential. Jody Morris and Joe Edwards used to be the youth team managers at Chelsea. Speaking to them both, potentially, he looked to be better than Tammy Abraham. Tammy has gone on and flown. Solanke is now having his second wind.
“I don’t think there’s any surprises at Chelsea from the people that were there seeing what he’s doing. They always said they had it in him. He broke the records as a kid scoring goals for Chelsea.”