Chelsea may need to rethink the loan of Jesse Derby this winter. The 19-year-old winger is hardly seeing any game time at Sporting, despite regular first-team action being the primary goal of his move to Portugal.
Derby made the switch to Chelsea from Crystal Palace's academy last summer, and in his maiden season, he managed to feature three times for the first team.
In May, he even made his league debut from the start in a Premier League match against Nottingham Forest.
Last season, Derby made a splash at youth level, racking up 16 goal contributions in 29 matches, after which the club decided to loan him out for much-needed first-team experience.
Sporting was the chosen destination, with a vacancy in their attacking lineup opened up following Geovany Quenda's move to Chelsea.
Following a decent pre-season, expectations were high for the young Englishman to get enough minutes, but things have taken a different turn.
In the first months of the season, Derby has managed just 44 minutes across all competitions from a possible 990.
He's been an unused substitute five times and only saw a handful of minutes towards the end of a Champions League clash against Lance.
Within Rui Borges' pecking order, players like Nestor Irankunda, Geny Katamu, and Flaviu Goncalves are currently ahead of him.
On the international stage, Derby continues to shine, having scored once and assisted twice for England U20 during the last international break.
This makes the current situation particularly concerning for Chelsea: a player they sent out for regular game time is hardly getting on the pitch.
If Derby's situation doesn’t improve in the coming months, the Blues could be forced to at least consider cutting the loan short in January and find a club where the 19-year-old winger will feature more regularly.
