The unfortunate tale of one of Chelsea's brightest youth sparks has continued a torrid journey down a dark tunnel this summer as Charly Musonda goes AWOL after departing Stamford Bridge.
After finally leaving the Blues this summer following a decade at the club, the 25-year-old winger was given hope of establishing his fading professional career. Homeland club Zulte Waregem offered him a chance to get back into playing football after a promising trial, but it seems that the Belgian winger has turned it down.
The attacker was offered a contract but failed to turn up for training following the offer. The absence was initially reported by the club as being due to family reasons, with the hope that he would return to the club and sign on. Musonda took on a different course of action though.
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Chief executive of Zulte Warege, Eddy Cordier, admitted that Musonda has disappeared from the club and that they have no trace of him. He said, "When will Charly Musonda return to training? I don't know. Will he ever come back? No idea.
"I don't know whether we will pull the plug on him because he hasn't been in since he trained a couple of weeks ago and there has been no contact. It's more important that we concentrate on the group of players who are here at the club for pre-season."
Considering Musonda himself admitted that he would play for Chelsea for free if it came to it, his absence is strange, especially for a player so naturally talented. He was previously determined to make it at Chelsea, coming to a head with manager Thomas Tuchel last summer in a ploy to remain on the books and earn himself an extra year.
Unfortunately for Musonda, it looks like his career at the highest level is petering out. After signing with Chelsea in 2012, he never went on to make a Premier League start for the Blues and only once looked like he would be given a hint of a first-team chance when Antonio Conte allowed him three small substitute appearances in the 2017/18 campaign.
The Italian gave him his debut in the Community Shield final in August 2017, before also allowing Musonda to score his first, and only, goal for the club in a League Cup tie against Nottingham Forest later that season.
He did continue his desperate attempts to force a way into Frank Lampard's Chelsea side with a loan to Vitesse Arnhem in 2019 but sustained several damaging knee injuries that would halt and all but end any chances of a future at Stamford Bridge.
Last season he did finally pull on a blue shirt once more, playing against Liverpool in Premier League 2, his first competitive match for 760 days, missing all of the 2020/21 campaign.
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