Is Patrick Bamford Capable of Making the Grade at Chelsea?
One of Middlesbrough's three Chelsea loanees Patrick Bamford, 21, is setting the Championship alight, which is why you have to start paying attention to the English forward.
When you are trying to project Bamford's future, however, there is a hitch.
Calculated Gamble
TOP NEWS
Madrid Fines Players $590K 😲
'Mbappé Out' Petition Gaining Steam 😳
Star-Studded World Cup Ad 🤩
"The weight of the transfer fee is on my shoulders," the late Sir Bobby Robson said, per Michael Walker at the Guardian. "He just plays."
This was a reference to Jermaine Jenas, who was once viewed as the future of England's midfield.
Jenas moved from Nottingham Forest to Newcastle United in February 2002 for €8.17/£5 million, at the time becoming the second-most expensive British teenage footballer.
Four months earlier, Nottingham Forest persuaded Jenas to extend his contract by five years.
- Objective: Inflate Jenas' transfer stock.
- Bonus: Theoretically, Jenas stays for another five years.
Nottingham Forest's ploy resulted in Newcastle United paying an exorbitant price to sign Jenas.
A decade later, Nottingham Forest were up the creek without a paddle until Bamford scored a combined nine goals in two successive FA Youth Cup games.
It prompted then-Nottingham Forest chairman Frank Clark to essentially beg Bamford, who was on an expiring contract, to re-up.
"We hoped that Patrick would get down to Chelsea and think 'I'd rather stay in Newark with all my friends,'" Clark said, per Dan Sinclair and Owen Phillips at BBC Sport. "We have to do that and ride it out and see what happens."
Hope turned into spin.
"When Patrick made the first-team appearance we immediately offered him a much-improved contract, the best contract that's ever been offered to an 18-year-old at this club," Clark said, per Sinclair and Phillips. "We re-doubled our efforts to get him to sign this contract to no avail."
The €1.80/£1.50 million Nottingham Forest received from Chelsea for Bamford in 2012 was shoddy management from Clark.
If Nottingham Forest played their cards right, they would have been in a stronger negotiating position to extract a Jenas-like fee for Bamford once Chelsea knocked on the door.
| Footballer | Age | Signed From | Transfer Fee |
| Romelu Lukaku | 18 | Anderlecht | €22.97/£20 million (2011) |
| Thibaut Courtois | 19 | Genk | €9.04/£7.90 million (2011) |
| Lucas Piazon | 18 | Sao Paulo | €6.11/£5.30 million (2012) |
| Oriol Romeu | 19 | Barcelona | €5.39/£4.70 million (2011) |
| Patrick Bamford | 18 | Nottingham Forest | €1.80/£1.50 million (2012) |
| Nathan Ake | 16 | Feyenoord | €795,818/£670,000 (2011) |
| Islam Feruz | 16 | Celtic | €344,986/£300,000 (2011) |
| Kenneth Omeruo | 18 | Standard Liege | Undisclosed (2012) |
- Courtois: Displaced Petr Cech to become Chelsea's No. 1. Courtois could potentially be the best goalkeeper of his generation.
- Piazon: Has scored two goals in 936 minutes over 18 Bundesliga games on loan at Eintracht Frankfurt this season.
- Bamford: A success story on loan at Middlesbrough.
- Ake: Hit a fantastic lofted through ball assist to Eden Hazard in a 6-0 UEFA Champions League win over Maribor. Aside from that one highlight-reel moment, Ake has been a spectator this season.
- Feruz: Accepted responsibility for making "some bad decisions" and is trying to revive his career. Recently had his loan at Championship club Blackpool prematurely ended.
- Omeruo: Playing at Middlesbrough alongside fellow Chelsea loanees Bamford and Tomas Kalas, who has started 12 of 15 Championship games since arriving in the January transfer window, interchanging from right-back to centre-back. Omeruo possesses the traits to be a top centre-back but needs to improve his concentration levels, increase his successful pass percentage (71.2) and eradicate the defensive miscues in his game.
When you compare the transfer fees of the teenage footballers Chelsea signed during the 2011-12 season to Bamford's, you have to give the Blues high marks in economic efficiency.
Pre-Middlesbrough
"This is a ruthless industry," Karl Robinson said, per James Pearce at the Liverpool Echo. "You either accept criticism and use it as a motivational tool or you fall away."
Perhaps, Robinson was speaking from experience, recalling his fleeting hope of fame during his time in the Everton academy.
When his ex-teammate Francis Jeffers transferred to Arsenal for €13/£8 million in 2001, Robinson had abandoned his dreams of playing in the Premier League.
Twelve years later, Chelsea loaned Bamford to Milton Keynes Dons, coached by Robinson.
During a training session, Bamford despondently revealed to the MK Dons coaching staff he was in a slump.
Instead of letting the situation deteriorate, Robinson showed his proactive man-management by reaching out to a friend, hoping he could provide Bamford with some words of motivation.
"Can you speak to Patrick?," Robinson said, per Henry Winter at The Telegraph. "He hasn't scored for five games and he thinks it's a drought."
The friend being Robbie Fowler, who scored 163 goals in the Premier League.
"I was getting a bit down on myself...[then Robinson] said: 'Come here, I've got someone to speak to you' and he put Robbie on the phone," Bamford said, per Chris Watson at the Derby Telegraph. "[Fowler] told me not to worry. ... It was nice to hear from [him]."
Robinson played a crucial role in Bamford's rise.
Bamford ended up scoring 21 goals in 44 games for MK Dons, including a seven-game run in League One when he netted eight times.
"Throughout the month of December [2013], I was having meetings with Chelsea. ... There was a real debate whether to leave me [at MK Dons]...or to try and push me on to the next challenge," Bamford said, per MK Dons' YouTube channel. "Everyone agreed I was ready for the next step up."
Bamford moved up from League One with MK Dons to the Championship with Derby County.
Unable to displace Chris Martin from the centre-forward position, Bamford accepted a wide-forward role under Derby County manager Steve McClaren.
"Patrick came as a striker and that is where he wanted to play, but we have played him on the right as one of the three strikers and given him licence to roam, get in the box and score goals," McClaren said, per Steve Nicholson at the Derby Telegraph. "[Bamford] is...a goalscorer, but what has impressed me is his work rate [and] his discipline."
Even without a pre-season at Derby County and not playing in his preferred position, Bamford was the joint-top scorer in the Championship for footballers born in 1993-1994.
- [1] Sheffield Wednesday; on loan from Sunderland (1993).
- [2] Derby County; on loan from Chelsea (1993).
- [3] Wigan Athletic; on loan from Manchester United (1994).
- [4] Charlton Athletic (1994).
However, Bamford felt unfulfilled at Derby County, and a tactical disagreement with McClaren opened the door for a move to Middlesbrough.
"I would have taken Patrick back, without a shadow of a doubt," McClaren said, per Scott Wilson at The Northern Echo. "[Though], he wanted to play centre-forward."
Middlesbrough Glory
Deemed to be Jose Mourinho's "yes man" at Real Madrid, per Andy Mitten at The National, Aitor Karanka realised perception can be reality during a confrontation with Lionel Messi.
During the tense exchange, Messi allegedly disparaged Karanka by labelling him a "puppet," per Dermot Corrigan at ESPN FC.
The implication being Karanka had no other use in the footballing world besides being a pawn in Mourinho's mind games.
Aligning with Mourinho served Karanka well when Middlesbrough chairman Steve Gibson was looking for a new manager.
"Mourinho said to me 'just get [Karanka]'," Gibson said, per Louise Taylor at the Guardian. "Maybe our English footballers can learn from the Spanish influence."
This meant Bamford was privy to the inner thoughts of Mourinho via Karanka. That may have been an additional factor in Bamford choosing Middlesbrough over a second spell at Derby County.
"[Karanka and Mourinho] are always in touch," Bamford said, per Richard Tanner at the Daily Express. "The gaffer always makes a joke to me about it, so it is nice to know I am in Jose's thoughts."
Zipping in from the right and getting past Martin Olsson, Bamford headed home Albert Adomah's cross in a 4-0 win over Norwich City.
Stepping over Lee Tomlin's pass, Kike deflected attention away from Bamford, who ghosted in from the right and clinically placed the ball into the top-left hand corner in a 3-0 win over Millwall.
Having angled in from the left, Bamford accelerated away from Tommy Smith, running on to Jelle Vossen's clipped pass, shimmied past Bartosz Bialkowski and rolled the ball into the back of the net.
Then, on the right side, Bamford dummied Smith, reached Grant Leadbitter's pass and hit the ball past Bialkowski.
Bamford's outstanding performance in the recent 4-1 win over Ipswich Town reinforces how much of a threat he is from a wide position.
McClaren is probably saying: "I told you!"
It is the same tactical conundrum Karanka has when he instructs Bamford to play out wide.
"When [Bamford is] playing out wide, he's not a winger, but he understands the role," Karanka said, per Paul Fraser at the Advertiser. "For example, sometimes Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi don't play as a centre-forward, [yet] they score 50 or 55 goals."
With every goal Bamford scores, he grants himself more leeway to alter his position into a quasi-No. 9.
"Playing on the right isn't a role I prefer but sometimes you've got to do your job for the team," Bamford said, per Jonathon Taylor at the Gazette. "Fortunately I've been scoring goals, even though I've been playing out of position."
It is not a restrictive wide role. Karanka has enabled Bamford, Leadbitter and Lee Tomlin creative freedom, hence all three roam forward and are capable of producing game-winning moments.
Of the eight players who have outscored Bamford (14 goals) in the Championship this season, none are younger than him.
Projecting Bamford's Future
Here is a power ranking of Chelsea's top centre-forward prospects based on the eye test.
- Bertrand Traore.
- Stipe Perica.
- Patrick Bamford.
- Dominic Solanke.
Traore: He is a genius, a once-in-a-generation talent, can play multiple positions and is a world-class prospect.
Perica: Smooth finisher, great size and produces in limited minutes. He only averages 43 minutes per game and starts 37.84 percent of games he is involved in.
Udinese have a €4/£2.92 million option to extend the loan into a permanent deal, per David Amoyal at GianlucaDiMarzio.com.
However, Chelsea have not confirmed a buyout clause in Perica's contract, per the club's official website.
Bamford: Nowhere near as talented as Traore, and he does not have the physical attributes of Perica. Yet Bamford is statistically better than both by a significant margin.
Solanke: Joint-top scorer in the UEFA Youth League (nine goals from seven games). He needs to replicate his prolific scoring at a higher level.
"I never really felt pushed at school or that I was struggling," Bamford said, per Stuart James at the Guardian, when asked about his unconditional scholarship offer from Harvard University. "It came naturally."
When you stereotype Bamford, you would not think he is a polymath. The same mode of thinking applies when you watch Bamford play for Middlesbrough.
Despite not looking like a budding superstar, a la Traore at Vitesse, Bamford keeps on scoring. Numbers don't lie.
If you include Bamford's MK Dons loan, he has scored 36 goals in 78 league games at 0.46 goals per game since last season.
Talk about winning. Remember, Chelsea signed him for €1.80/£1.5 million.
Bamford is either going to be Chelsea's version of Harry Kane or another cash cow who will be sold for a substantial profit.
When not specified, statistics via WhoScored.com.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
