Diego Moreira is no longer a Chelsea player, having made the permanent switch to RC Strasbourg this summer, but he’s still at our sister club, and his thoughts about the coach we have in place there are still incredibly relevant as some of our finest young talents are going to be sent there to develop in the future.
It’s important that the club is doing well, playing good football, has a coach who can improve players, and is generally a good environment to be in. According to Moreira, that’s very much the case.
“I see myself staying here. Since I got here, it’s been a relief. I rediscover this joy of playing football, of having fun. Then everything is great: the coach, the club, the infrastructure, the quality of life, the city,” Moreira said in quotes picked up by Sport Witness.
He also spoke of some tough times at Chelsea last season, when he was shunted back to the Under 21s after being recalled from his loan at Lyon:
“It’s true that the level of academy football is not comparable to professional football: you have the impression that you are stagnating, that you are not learning anything. Yes, we still learn something every day, but at that time I needed to gain experience. That’s not what I was looking for.”
All parties end up happy with summer move
In the end, it looks like a switch that’s worked well for everyone. Chelsea get rid of a player who was taking up loan slots without much prospect of playing in the first team. Strasbourg get a permanent signing who is helping them game by game. And Moreira gets a permanent home and a place he can settle and develop.
Let’s hope we get more positive feedback from players there. At the moment Djordje Petrovic and Andrey Santos are there, and that’s likely to just be the start.
