Other Premier League sides did more business, but Chelsea still had a busy end to the summer transfer window.

The club finally got their hands on Alejandro Garnacho, opted against signing Fermin Lopez, and made a surprise move to bring in Facundo Buonanotte on a season-long loan – without an option or obligation to buy.

Additionally, the Blues decided to cancel Marc Guiu’s loan to Sunderland following the recent injury to Liam Delap.

However, that’s a decision they might not have needed to make, as they’ve already got an incredibly talented youngster who could’ve filled in.

Chelsea's striker situation

There is plenty of optimism around Chelsea and what they could achieve this season, and rightly so, but things are currently far from ideal in the striker department.

In the win over Fulham on Saturday, Liam Delap started up top, and while he looked lively in the opening exchanges, he had to come off in just the 14th minute with a hamstring injury, which will keep him out of the action for eight to ten weeks.

The sudden setback for the Englishman caused the club to momentarily stop Nicolas Jackson’s loan move to Bayern Munich, only for the Senegalese striker to make it quite clear he wanted to go.

Now, Maresca does still have a fit Joao Pedro to call on, but until Cole Palmer is fit enough to come back into the side, the Brazilian is likely to continue as the team’s ten or second striker.

So, with there being minimal options on the market, the West Londoners decided that the best route to take was to cancel Guiu’s loan to Sunderland.

After all, the young Spaniard did score six goals in 16 appearances for the side last season, and had already bagged one in three games for the Black Cats.

However, while that might serve Maresca in the short term, it could limit the 19-year-old’s long-term development, and it might not have even been necessary, as there is a youngster in the academy who deserves a chance to fill in.

The Chelsea youngster who should be in the squad

Few, if any, top academies can match Cobham for the sheer number of quality players it produces, and it looks like the next success of the production line could be Shumaira Mheuka.

In The Pipeline

Football FanCast’s In the Pipeline series aims to uncover the very best youth players in world football.

It’s almost certain that fans outside of Chelsea have little to no idea who the 17-year-old gem is, but fans of the club would have seen him make several first-team appearances last season.

Maresca trusted the Birmingham-born gem to come off the bench four times in the Conference League and even once in the Premier League, at home to Southampton.

He might not have got onto the scoresheet in any of those cameos, but do not get it twisted, the youngster looks to be a lean, mean goalscoring machine.

For example, in 53 appearances for the West Londoners’ youth sides, the young ace, whom one analyst has dubbed one of the “brightest young strikers in England,” has scored 26 goals and provided six assists.

That comes out to a sensational average of a goal involvement every 1.65 games, which is a more than encouraging rate of return.

It’s also better than Guiu managed in his youth team days, as in 25 games for Barcelona’s junior sides, he scored eight goals and provided four assists, which comes out to an average of a goal involvement every 2.08 games.

Appearances

53

25

Goals

26

8

Assists

6

6

Goal Involvements per Match

0.60

0.56

Now, it would be absurd to expect the youngster to come into the side and make loads of appearances, but he could certainly fulfil the role as a backup and someone who plays in the less important games.

After all, how is he going to take the next step unless he is exposed to more senior football, and with respected talent scout Jacek Kulig dubbing him “the future of Chelsea and English football,” Maresca might want to get him in the squad as soon as possible, in case another team comes along and offers him just that.

Ultimately, while it would have been something of a risk, the Blues should have let Guiu remain out on loan for his own development, and used Mheuka as the backup option – he deserves a shot.

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ByDominic Lund