Adebola Anjorin on course for good run in Chelsea team after making Champions League debut

NIGERIAN-born midfielder Faustino Adebola Anjorin is on course to become a regular member of the Chelsea team after an impressive display in the UEFA Champions League yesterday where he featured for 80 minutes against Russian side Krasnodar.

Playing as part of the front three for a Chelsea team that had already qualified for the knockout stage of the tournament, Anjorin, 19, equipped himself well during the 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge. He later admitted that he knew he was going to make his full debut for Chelsea during the last training session ahead of the game.

Anjorin said: “I got called in for training so I had some suspicions but at first I thought I’d be on the bench.  When we put the team out in training, Lampard said Tino, left wing and that’s when I was like am I starting? After that, Frank came up to me and asked if I was excited for my debut.”

Predominantly a box-to-box midfielder, Anjorin was deployed as a left-sided winger against Krasnodar and he revealed that he’s not too familiar with the position.  Assessing his performance playing out wide, he said it was different and it took him a while to get used to the position.

Anjorin has been tipped to be involved in some capacity with Chelsea first team in the coming weeks with wingers Hakim Ziyech and Callum Hudson-Odoi still recovering from injuries. Despite having already played for the England youth team, the Nigerian Football Federation (NFF) is keen on securing his services for the Super Eagles.

NFF vice president Shehu Dikko confirmed that Nigeria are still hopeful of getting the midfielder to play for the Super Eagles. he revealed that Super Eagles manager Gernot Rohr is still monitoring the young midfielder’s progress.

Mr Dikko said: “The objective of the coach is to have a wide pool of players available for selection both abroad and in the domestic scene. So I believe they must have him on their radar but all subject to if he is interested to pledge his allegiance to Nigeria, since it’s a long process and not a guarantee he must be selected until he deserves it”