Right now, being part of Chelsea’s ‘B team’ is exactly where Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall needs to be.
That might sound like a strange thing to say after Dewsbury-Hall completed his first 90 minutes for nearly four weeks in Chelsea’s 5-0 victory over League Two side Barrow on Tuesday night. It would certainly be understandable if he wanted to kick on from here, beginning with Brighton this weekend. The midfielder has started just three times for Chelsea this season, none of which have come in the Premier League (the other two came in the Conference League qualifying round against Servette). He has accumulated only 44 minutes from three substitute appearances in England’s top division.
No signing wants to be part of the second string when they move to a new club. Dewsbury-Hall rightly spoke with a lot of hope and ambition when he sat down with the media in July for his first interview since he joined from Leicester for £30million. For example, he talked about how performing for Chelsea could now make his dreams of making the senior England squad a reality.
But he has had it pretty tough since. He has not been helped by starting pre-season training still working back to his best physical condition following an ankle injury sustained at the end of the Championship campaign with Leicester. Illness also denied him the possibility to feature against Bournemouth earlier this month, a few weeks after being left on the bench versus Crystal Palace before the international break.
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca, who was in charge of Leicester last season, said in his press conference on the eve of the Barrow match how Dewsbury-Hall has found the realities of playing for a better team something to get used to. He explained: “I’m very happy with Kiernan, but we also need to understand that Kiernan was the main player at Leicester. He has arrived here and he is not the main player. For him, for any player (in this situation) in the world, you need to adapt mentally. But I don’t have any doubts for Kiernan.”
To give you an idea of just how much Dewsbury-Hall was key at Leicester last season compared to Chelsea, he featured in all but four of Leicester’s games in all competitions during 2023-24, starting 43 out of 53 games. He had 26 goal involvements (12 goals and 14 assists), which saw him named the Supporters’ Player of the Season and Players’ Player of the Season.
But a lack of game time is not the only challenge Dewsbury-Hall is having to deal with. The 26-year-old’s arrival at Stamford Bridge was met with an element of negativity from some supporters because it coincided with all the uncertainty surrounding the future of fan favourite Conor Gallagher. Given they played in similar positions, the transfer was seen as a big signal being sent to Gallagher that his replacement was in the building. A month later, Gallagher was sold to Atletico Madrid.
Chelsea did not regard it as a like-for-like situation. They saw Gallagher as more of a defensive No.6/8, whereas Dewsbury-Hall plays further forward as an attacking No.8/10. Whether people believe there is a big difference between their roles as players or not, it is a tough act for Dewsbury-Hall to follow.
Gallagher, who is 17 months younger and already an established England international, made the most appearances of any Chelsea player last season (50) and scored a credible seven goals as well. He has begun his Atletico career in fine form too, with a couple of goals in just five appearances. Inevitably there is a sense of regret about how things have turned out among the Chelsea following who wanted him to remain. Seeing the footage of Gallagher already making an impact in Spain will just make this section of Chelsea’s fanbase even more convinced a mistake has been made and therefore focus more of a critical eye in Dewsbury-Hall’s direction.
But Dewsbury-Hall should be given a chance to make his mark like any new signing. Being part of the ‘midweek’ group (for the short term at least) will allow him to begin doing that without the same pressure and expectation he would be under if he was in the ‘A team’. For those featuring in the first XI at the weekend, the need for Chelsea to maintain their challenge for the top four is much more intense.
Let me explain further. Firstly it is difficult to get into Maresca’s ‘best team’ as it is. After the 3-0 Premier League win at West Ham last Saturday, who would you drop out of Enzo Fernandez or Moises Caicedo in midfield or players further forward like Cole Palmer, Noni Madueke or Jadon Sancho?
Dewsbury-Hall is understandably still having to work on his match fitness and confidence levels anyway. Against Barrow, while Chelsea began quickly by going 3-0 up inside 30 minutes, Dewsbury-Hall was finding it hard to get into the game at all. Late on in the first half, only keeper Filip Jorgensen had had fewer touches.
However, the longer he was left on the pitch, the more involved he became. According to whoscored.com, no Chelsea player had more shots on goal in the end (four) and that is despite striker Christopher Nkunku scoring a hat-trick (three goals from three attempts). He ended up with the seventh-highest amount of touches (48) out of the 16 players Maresca used. You could see him growing in belief and the noises from the stands were more encouraging. But at the same time this was ‘only’ Barrow.
What is beneficial though for Dewsbury-Hall is the Barrow fixture is the first of a minimum of 10 midweek games on the club’s calendar up until the end of the year. There are six matches in the group phase of the Conference League, a fourth round tie in the Carabao Cup plus two Premier League matches against Southampton and Ipswich in December. This busy period will put an extra strain on the squad and surely lead to Dewsbury-Hall starting matches on a much more regular basis.
Maresca confirmed as much when asked by The Athletic how the intense schedule can be to Dewsbury-Hall’s benefit. “Absolutely,” he replied. “Like him and all the players that are not starting in the Premier League, they are going to start in the Conference League or the Carabao Cup.”
It has not been an easy start to life at Chelsea for Dewsbury-Hall, but like with many things about Maresca’s team, things are looking up.
(Top photo: Richard Pelham/Getty Images)
