Kenedy could be Chelsea's saviour this season

Kenedy could be the answer to Chelsea’s problems

With the loss against Southampton over the weekend, Chelsea have now lost 4 games this season already and lie deep in the bottom half of the Premier League table. This season is sadly turning out to be a long, gruesome and ultimately demoralizing one for the Blues. Nothing seems to have gone right for Mourinho’s men, be it their indifferent tactics or their woeful defending and lack of creativity going ahead.

While this season looks like one that the Blues fans will want to forget as soon as they can, there has been one positive amongst a sea of disappointments – their new Brazilian import Kenedy. In the limited time he has spent on the pitch, the young Brazilian has injected a new lease of energy into Chelsea’s line-up that has been severely lacking and he could prove to be the one bright spark this season for the Blues.

Origins

Born in the town of Santa Rita do Sapucaí in Brazil, Kenedy began his career at Fluminense, moving through the youth ranks and finally into the starting XI. This promotion to the first team was largely down to his performances for the Brazil U-17 team in the 2013 South American Championships where he scored an impressive six goals in just eight games.

He then went on to score his first professional goal for Fluminense on 24 May 2014 in a game against Bahia which was then followed by a string of good performances exemplified in his goal against rivals Cruzeiro in September later that year.

With his stock soaring, the young Brazilian was sold to an unnamed club in the summer of 2015 for a fee of £6.3 million. It was only later found that the club in question was Chelsea when he featured in their preseason game against Spanish giants Barcelona.

Skill Set

Kenedy’s main strengths are his blistering pace both on and off the ball, his innate capacity for threading beautiful lofted balls ahead regularly and his explosive shot. All these components make him the “ideal” goal-minded winger in modern day football.

His pace is a constant threat to defenders and even though he may not be as quick compared to other Brazilian wingers like his Chelsea teammate Willian, he still possesses more than enough to breeze past defenders with ease as was evident in his performances for the Guerreiros in the Brazilian Serie A and for the Brazil youth sides.

While he may be a winger, Kenedy is not averse to playing deeper in the heart of the midfield which was seen recently in Mourinho’s use of him during Chelsea’s game against West Brom where he actually started at left-back and then moved to a more central position as Chelsea pushed for a goal. In his capacity at playing deeper down the pitch, the Brazilian teenager excels in lofting balls forward for fellow strikers to latch on to - another reason why Chelsea were so eager to secure his services.

Kenedy’s greatest strength by far however is his explosive shot. With his right foot, the young winger possesses a shot of such magnitude that many feel that it is reminiscent of fellow Brazilian winger and real life cannonball Hulk. For someone of his stature, the Chelsea man can hit the ball with quite an unbelievable bit of power and accuracy. This lethal combination of power and accuracy and characteristic Brazilian trickery led Kenedy to become one of Fluminense’s most prolific teenagers in front of goal during his time with them and Chelsea fans all over will be looking forward to seeing him do the same at Stamford Bridge.

Role at Chelsea

In Kenedy, Chelsea possess a winger who can both run at defenders before setting up a ball for a teammate and a player who is more than comfortable looking straight at goal. Given Chelsea’s ineffectiveness while pushing ahead and the dearth of opportunities created, Kenedy’s liveliness and blistering right foot could be just what the doctor ordered for the Blues.

Also, unlike many other youth stars who come to larger clubs and then get overwhelmed by the magnitude of the skill on show there, Kenedy doesn’t show any signs of being daunted by the task in the least. In fact, in his limited time on the pitch for the Blues, the Brazilian has managed to stand out and force people to take notice of him with his unapologetic offensive play coupled with an insatiable urge to shoot.

While Chelsea may be well stocked in the winger department already with the likes of Pedro, Willian and Eden Hazard on offer, Kenedy still has a lot to give for Chelsea. His willingness to play all over the pitch will definitely be an asset to both him and the club as given Chelsea’s underperforming start this year, vacancies in that faltering line up are sure to come and the young Brazilian will be more than willing to fill them up.

This was illustrated in his debut performance after coming on during the game against Crystal Palace, Kenedy showed an innate sense of purpose and calmness whenever he got the ball and was never afraid to take on defenders with his trickery and guile whenever he got the chance to do so. Soon enough, Chelsea supporters were filled with excitement whenever he was on the ball.

Playing out of position at left-back, Kenedy added a spark that was lacking in Chelsea's forward movement against Palace and his enthusiastic pushing ahead was a refreshing sign in an otherwise dull Blues performance – something that has plagued Chelsea this whole season.

With Chelsea continuing to falter this year, Mourinho needs to make some radical changes to his line-up – he needs to inject it with decisiveness while going ahead and more energy and commitment while tracking back, he needs a player who isn’t afraid to be creative while pushing ahead and take a crack at goal whenever he can. Luckily he needn’t look too far – the answer lies right on his bench in a young Brazilian winger by the name of Kenedy.