{"id":550549,"date":"2026-03-28T14:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T14:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/550549\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T14:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T14:19:09","slug":"what-happened-to-former-chelsea-wonderkid-charly-musonda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/550549\/","title":{"rendered":"What happened to former Chelsea wonderkid Charly Musonda?"},"content":{"rendered":"

After leaving Celtic, Musonda described the scene: “Barcelona wanted me that summer where I would spend six months in the B team and then hopefully get promoted to the first team but Vitesse also wanted me. Chelsea<\/a> said, ‘Look, go to Vitesse’.<\/p>\n

“During the September international break, I was playing a friendly in Antwerp. The ball was in the air and the guy just put his studs into my knee. I was told I would be out for two months \u2013 it ended up being nearly four years.”<\/p>\n

Musonda injured the PCL in his knee, an almost unheard\u2011of issue in football, when surgery is usually avoided to prevent altering a player’s explosiveness or running style. Two months out became a full season and when he tested the knee again during his loan back at Vitesse, he broke down once more.<\/p>\n

Seeking answers, Musonda consulted his private doctorand was advised to have surgery. Chelsea<\/a> initially refused, delaying him another month, but Musonda eventually won the argument.<\/p>\n

During his eight\u2011to\u201110\u2011month recovery, the global coronavirus pandemic struck, slowing his progress further by restricting access to club facilities and staff.<\/p>\n

At that stage, Musonda paid for parts of his own rehabilitation, hiring a private physiotherapist in Dubai at his own expense \u2013 a move he says led to him being fined but that he ultimately credits with helping him return to training three and a half years after the initial injury.<\/p>\n

Managers Maurizio Sarri and Lampard had come and gone, and Thomas Tuchel was now in charge at Chelsea<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“I met Tuchel in the car park and he told me he knew who I was from Dortmund and to be ready for the following pre-season,” Musonda said. “I came back and was told to sign a contract at half my salary and to go out on loan by Petr Cech and Carlo Cudicini, the loan coach.<\/p>\n

“I was also told I would be training with the under-23s but I pulled one of Tuchel’s coaches aside and he said it was a mistake \u2013 that I was travelling with them to Ireland the next day for the tour. I trained there and I got Covid. A nightmare.<\/p>\n

“When I returned, Tuchel told me there was some animosity in the front office. I said I would have played for free that season to prove myself at Chelsea<\/a> and that if I wasn’t good enough, I would walk away when my contract expired.<\/p>\n

“I knew from September that I wouldn’t play and it was tough, especially after being told I had only a 20% chance of playing football again when I had the surgery to then feeling fully fit. <\/p>\n

“I just needed an opportunity at Chelsea<\/a>, but it was a tough sell after so long out. Mentally, that was one of the toughest moments. It killed me. Chelsea<\/a> was where I wanted to make it.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After leaving Celtic, Musonda described the scene: “Barcelona wanted me that summer where I would spend six months…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-550549","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-soccer","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}