“He’s one I really thought would have a key part” – Pundit opens up on Chelsea loan star | OneFootball

Micah Richards has admitted he thought Ian Maatsen would have played a key role for Chelsea this season, following his impressive performance for Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.

Maatsen returned to Chelsea in the summer following a successful loan spell with Burnley, starring as they won the Championship under Vincent Kompany.

The 22-year-old had a good pre season for the Blues and turned down a permanent move to Turf Moor, despite a deal worth £31.5m being agreed because he wanted to make it at Stamford Bridge.

It became apparent pretty quickly that Maatsen wasn’t going to get the minutes he wanted at Chelsea with Mauricio Pochettino preferring to play Levi Colwill out of position at left back over him.

In the first half of the season the Dutchman only started one Premier League game and played a total of just 201 minutes from his 12 appearances in the league.

It was widely expected Maatsen would be sold in January but instead he signed a new deal with a £35m release clause inserted and joined Dortmund on loan for six months.

Sine arriving in Germany he has adapted to life quickly and put in a string of impressive performances, including on Tuesday night in the Champions League against Atletico Madrid, where he scored as the Germans advanced to the semi finals.

Many can’t understand why Maatsen wasn’t given a proper chance to show what he can do at Chelsea, including Richards who thought he would play a key role for the Blues.

“I want to give a shout out to Maatsen”, Richards said on The Rest is Football.

“I watched Burnley in the Championship a lot, he is on loan from Chelsea, he scores a goal.

“He is one I really thought would have a key part in what Chelsea wanted to do this season. It didn’t transpire to him but he scores in the quarter-finals and his all round game was good.”

It’s been reported that Maatsen has already informed Chelsea he wants to leave the club permanently and you can’t help but feel this could be another mistake from the Blues.