Why Chelsea Debutant Izzy Brown Has Point to Prove vs. West Brom
When Izzy Brown takes to the pitch for Chelsea against West Bromwich Albion on Monday night, it will be a sweet moment for the 18-year-old.
Not only will the game mark his competitive debut in Chelsea colours, but there will be something far more significant to celebrate: That he made the right move when opting to swap the Hawthorns for Stamford Bridge.
Brown is a product of the West Brom academy, but he moved to Chelsea two years ago, shortly after the Baggies had made him the second-youngest player to play in the Premier League.
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The Peterborough-born midfielder had been on the bench against Chelsea two months earlier, but it was against Wigan Athletic that then-Baggies manager Steve Clarke gave him his debut.
It’s therefore fitting the same moment should come in a Chelsea shirt against the club that played a significant role in his development.
And it gives Brown the chance to show the Baggies what they’re missing.
Brown’s move to Chelsea isn’t unique. Across Europe, we’re witnessing a number of young players leaving comfortable surroundings to test themselves at the continent's mammoth clubs.
The most high profile of those is Martin Odegaard of Real Madrid—the Norwegian attacking midfielder who left Stromsgodset for the European champions in January.
Cynics will say the lure of riches is what attracts these players most, not the opportunity of playing football; after all, the impression is that first-team chances will be hard to come by while they could be a big part of the team had they remained at their first club.
There are always exceptions to the rule, but where Brown is concerned, he moved for the right reasons.
He may well be young, but here is a player who knows he is good enough to cut it at Stamford Bridge.
Just watch him play. His confidence is clear.
We’ve seen Brown in awesome form for Chelsea’s under-18 and under-21 teams. He’s been a key figure in Chelsea winning back-to-back FA Youth Cups, and he also scored twice in this season's UEFA Youth League final.
That match-winning brace came 24 hours after warming the bench for Jose Mourinho when Chelsea defeated Queens Park Rangers 1-0 at Loftus Road.
Loic Remy had pulled up with a calf injury a day earlier and Chelsea needed numbers on the bench, given Diego Costa’s ongoing hamstring struggles.
Being a youth-team player at Chelsea requires one to wear many different faces. Regardless of talent, there needs to be a show of willingness to put in the graft for the development squads, an effort to commit to the greater cause of the academy’s success.
Then comes the need to be a professional footballer. Whether you’re an unknown first-year scholar or a player who's having the future pinned on him, Chelsea’s youngsters need to have that professional attitude.
Without it, they fail.
Brown has it, though, and travelling from Switzerland to London and back again had no impact on him. Here was a player in the zone, a player primed to cut it with the rest.
He blew Shakhtar Donetsk away in that aforementioned UEFA final, and now he has his eyes set on doing something similar with the Chelsea first team.
It's all about steps—the cliched stages of walking, running and then making it a sprint.
Without getting carried away, Brown is looking like he's in the middle of that cycle, and Mourinho's noticed it.
"Against West Bromwich, especially because they’re safe and nobody is waiting for a result, I’ll play some of the kids, including Izzy Brown," said the Chelsea boss in his pre-match press conference.
"He comes from West Bromwich, so it’ll be special for the kid to play in that house—the boy deserves it."
It's not often Mourinho speak in those terms about youth players, but when he does, the regard in which they're held is clear.
Young players need to earn the right to be given a chance, especially when they're playing for the Premier League champions.
Brown has earned his.
Like some of his youth team-mates, Brown is carrying a weight on his shoulders far greater than his own, however.
The success of Chelsea’s youth teams has bred more of a demand than an expectation that some of the club's players will begin to feature under Mourinho.
Of course, the manager has a big role to play in that happening—giving them a chance to play when the time is right. Yet equally, it’s about these youngsters showing they’re more than flat-track bullies too good for their age group but unable to compete with men.
Too often, FA Youth Cup winners have disappeared into the ether, although the difference with the crop at Stamford Bridge is that very few have dominated as convincingly as they have.
Be it the full 90 minutes or a substitute appearance, Brown can prove on Monday that this is just the beginning of a fine tale in the history of Chelsea Football Club.
Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes
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