Thrilling loan talent with 16 G/A faces uncertain future at Chelsea as Pochettino dodges question | OneFootball

Omari Hutchinson is among the group of loan players returning to Chelsea with their seasons finished at their temporary clubs.

After a successful season helping Ipswich get promotion to the Premier League with 10 goals and 6 assists (TM), it was to be expected he was the name picked out for Mauricio Pochettino to be asked about in his press conference today.

His words revealed that he was aware of Omari’s situation, but as always in these situations the coach pointed to the upcoming game as his priority, dodging the question entirely.

“I saw a few players who arrived but, at the moment, we’re focusing on finishing on Sunday and then we have a few days to speak with the sporting directors to talk about the players,” he replied.

Of course after Sunday, there will be no more pressers for the press to ask the manager about this sort of thing.

A nice nod from the coach – but a question dodged

Chelsea fans naturally get very excited about their loan players, as you know from the way we regularly report on their progress and highlights. They’re often the youngest and most exciting prospects, and they’re all desperately competing for a chance in the first team.

Recent years we’ve improved our record on ensuring those youngsters doing well at other clubs are appreciated, with Levi Colwill last season a prime example. But things weren’t always that way, and some past coaches barely seemed to know who some of them were.

Pochettino is not pretending he’s been glued to every Ipswich game, but he has at least acknowledged that assessing the players who return to the club now is an important part of his job. Hutchinson seemed to say goodbye to Ipswich in a recent social media post, but we’re not going to make too many premature judgments about his future based on that. It all still seems very much up in the air, and they’re certainly keen to keep hold of him.