There was a real false dawn for Chelsea fans earlier this week when Josh Acheampong was spotted training with the first team, leading to a rush of speculation that his freeze out was over, and that he would soon be signing a new contract and returning to playing.
However Enzo Maresca soon squashed those hopes in his press conference:
“There is not any update in terms of contract or these kind of things,” the coach said before the Heidenheim game.
“No, nothing. He is just training with us in the last two days. There is no update on contract or these kind of things.”
It’s a pity – with Malo Gusto and Reece James out injured the last week would have been ideal for Josh to get some starts. However we returned to our state of depression, assuming he isn’t going to sign a new deal and is instead going to leave like the rest of the players who have come into conflict with the sporting directors’ plans.
Acheampong hopes still alive after latest update
But today a rather promising update from Football.London has rekindled the flame of hope a little:
“Chelsea have held positive talks with Josh Acheampong over signing a new contract with the club, sources have told football.london,” they wrote today.
Don’t get too excited however, as they follow up by saying: “it is understood that an agreement is not imminent and there is an acceptance that these negotiations can be lengthy.”
But there’s just enough in there to keep us hoping. Given the squad is so complete now in terms of depth, those at the top can really focus on securing those talents already in place at the club – it’s even more important than signing the next big thing out of South America.
