I spent 10 years working at Chelsea – forgotten star now playing in Cyprus was supposed to be a world beater

CHARLY MUSONDA was supposed to be a world beater according to former Chelsea scout Chris Robinson.

The Belgian winger spent a decade with the Blues after joining their academy aged 15.

However, a series of serious knee injuries limited him to just seven first-team appearances.

He showed glimpses of his ability, though, and even scored on his senior Chelsea debut.

Robinson has now revealed he had tipped Musonda for the top after he arrived at the club.

The former academy scout spent over 11 years with Chelsea, during which time he also worked as head of academy recruitment and scouting.

Speaking to Rising Ballers’ Perspectives podcast, he explained: “Unfortunately there’s a lot of players who you see at younger ages, who just don’t go on to fulfil their potential.

“But to give an example, I think the one I would quote would be Charly Musonda, the Belgian boy who came to Chelsea at 15/16.

“Attacking midfield player, winger, fantastic touch, great movement. He was quick, he would send players both ways, he could take defenders both sides, he could score goals, he could make goals. As talented as anybody I’ve seen at that age.

“He played for Chelsea’s first-team, made his cup debut against Nottingham Forest I think in the FA Cup, scored I think as well in a game we won 5-1 from memory.

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“Then he got a very bad injury. He went out on loan to a couple of places that just didn’t work and he was out for a long time with an injury.

“He’s still playing now, my guess will be he’d be about 26 now, Charly’s playing in Cyprus I think. But in terms of sheer ability, he was as good as anybody I’ve seen at that age.”

Musonda had loan spells in Spain, Scotland and the Netherlands after arriving from Anderlecht in 2012.

However, the former Belgian under-21 international was hampered by a string of serious knee injuries.

He even endured a two-year lay-off following knee surgery which saw him miss 125 matches across 759 days on the treatment table.

After 10 years in West London, he joined Levante on a free transfer in 2022, before signing for Cypriot side Anorthosis last September.

Now 27, he has so far made 11 appearances in Cyprus, where Anorthosis are currently sixth in the First Division’s Championship group.

Robinson added: “I’d pick Charly out as an example of someone who I thought was going to be a worldie but he hasn’t yet, still time.”

The ex-Chelsea scout also highlighted Jeremie Boga, who was on the club’s books for nine years after signing aged 12 in 2009.

“Jeremie Boga was a similar age to him,” he continued. “He’s still playing the game and he’s had a good career, but I thought he was going to be a world beater, again he got an injury.

“So it’s often injury that comes in the way of these players, at the wrong time and it’s very hard to fight back from that.”

Boga, who has won 18 caps for the Ivory Coast, made just one senior Chelsea appearance before being sold in 2018.

He now plays for French side Nice after five years in Italy with Sassuolo and Atalanta.

Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk