Rio Ngumoha's last winner against Newcastle was a blow to everyone in Chelsea, not only because he achieved two points for a team that could be title challenges, but because Chelsea lost him for nothing.
But fans don't have to fear, because they demonstrably have an asterisk even better than they already in their academy.
Step forward Ryan Kavuma-McQueen who became a favorite at Cobham, just as Ngumoha was before moving to Merseyside.
The blues dismissed intense interest in retaining Kavuma-McQueen, including from the Premier League and on the continent, and despite being only 16 years old, he is already flourishing this season for the under-21 years.
The quality of Kavuma-McQueen cannot be denied and proven from the statistics when playing in Chelsea's Cobham setup.
At level below 18 and in the Premier League 2 he collected 10 goals and four assists in 23 performances.
For comparison: Rio Ngumoha has made 27 performances for Chelsea and Liverpool in those competitions, scored three goals and get the same number of assists in more than 600 minutes of Gametime extra.
The crucial here, however, is that Rio Ngumoha now has a most important Premier League goal to his name, while Kavuma-McQueen is still a taste of top action.
He has developed something of a trademark finish in Cobham, with an elite ball-prawn technique, which often shoots the ball hard over the goal, focused on the corners.
The talented left wing almost found the back of the Net vs Manchester City's Under-21 team with a weak rocket from the edge of the box, and the first-year-old scholar was one of the best players to be seen in that game alongside Shim Mheuka, who scored a hat trick.
Quickly with and without the ball, and very intelligent in his movement, he has to grow physically in the role of a Premier League-Vleugel player, but showed that he will not shun a physical challenge with a goal for the U21 side of Chelsea against League Two Side Bromley in the before season, and a brace against Preston North.
Statistics of course do not show the full image.
But they do give a good indication of the quality of the two players, of which Kavuma-McQueen was born younger on January 1, 2009.
Of course this raises the question, why is Kavuma-McQueen not playing in the Premier League when he is so good?
Well, that is thanks to Chelsea and their young player strategy, but they would like them not to make the same mistake with the most popular young prospects in Cobham now that they have made with Ngumoha.
Interest in the Starlet of the Blues of Liverpool and Barcelona has already been reported.
But Chelsea managed to bind him to a two-year exhibition agreement, which was recently announced alongside fellow academy-moods Ibrahim Rabbaj, Isago Silva and Mathis Eboue.
It is expected that Kavuma-McQueen will shine for the U21s this season, but it is one to keep an eye on if Chelsea has a left wing at any time, this campaign.
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