Even though teenage prospect Reggie Walsh stole the headlines from Chelsea’s win over Djurgarden, Martin Keown decided to shine a light on his Blues teammate.
The Blues recorded a 1-0 home victory against Swedish club Djurgarden on Thursday night, securing a 5-1 aggregate success in the Conference League semi-final.
Enzo Maresca’s side have breezed through the Conference League competition this season, and they now face Real Betis in the final on 28 May.
In Chelsea’s second leg win against Djurgarden, Reggie Walsh made his first start in senior football. The versatile 16-year-old midfielder was super impressive as he completed 90 minutes in the European tie.
Even the Swedish media raved about Reggie Walsh, claiming that the Blues teenager has a huge future ahead of him.
Martin Keown thinks Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall has been a good signing for Chelsea
Martin Keown singled out Chelsea’s Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, 26, for huge praise after his contribution against Djurgarden in midweek.
The box-to-box midfielder scored the winning goal with a composed left-footed finish as he continues to shine in the European competition.
Keown suggests Dewsbury-Hall has been unfortunate not to play more this season because he’s the “star player” in the Conference League.
He told TNT Sports: “To be honest, he’s been a bit unlucky actually. A decent signing, obviously the manager worked with him at Leicester, knew what he was all about. He’s had to be quite patient. He’s definitely growing. He’s a bit of a late bloomer.
“He tucks that away beautifully [for his goal]. This is a game where he can be the star player with all these youngsters around him.”
Chelsea paid Leicester City a £30m transfer fee (BBC) last summer to sign Dewsbury-Hall, reuniting him with head coach Enzo Maresca.
The reality is that the left-footed Englishman has been signed as a squad player to provide cover.
| Competition | Appearances | Goals | Assists | Minutes played |
| Conference League | 12 | 4 | 2 | 1,015 |
| Premier League | 12 | 0 | 1 | 254 |
| Conference League qualifiers | 2 | 0 | 0 | 180 |
| Carabao Cup | 2 | 0 | 0 | 147 |
| FA Cup | 1 | 0 | 0 | 58 |
It’s a huge credit to Dewsbury-Hall that he’s delivered some eye-catching performances when he’s played, particularly in the Conference League. It’s just an impossible task for him to break into the best XI when he’s got the likes of Enzo Fernandez and Cole Palmer above him in the pecking order.
Jason Cundy claimed Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall is growing as a Chelsea player as time goes by, but we struggle to see how he can get into the Premier League line-up.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall could push to leave Chelsea
Unsurprisingly, there’s transfer speculation that Dewsbury-Hall could look to move away from the Blues this summer.
Even though he only joined Chelsea a year ago and he’s on the brink of winning European silverware, he’s gone from a talisman at Leicester City to a squad player.
It’s been reported that Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall could push to leave Chelsea amid interest from Everton despite his positive relationship with Maresca.
Based on what we’ve seen from Dewsbury-Hall this campaign, we believe he would be a huge success at somewhere like Everton. It would be a blow to lose him as a quality squad option at Chelsea, too.
