He looks more suited to the Spanish league if you ask me.Great ability but Week in week out prem football is a high demand on the body and lets be fair, Josh McEchran isnt the beefiest of footballers is he.

Last season he made 9 league appearances and 6 CL appearances at the tender age of 17.

I would say that was pretty impressive for the lad at this stage of his development. I would expect him to make a few more this season, especially in the CL where the pace and physical side is less demanding, but I would guess he won't be a first team regular for another couple of seasons, and I don't see what's wrong with that as he will only be 20 even then.

Josh McEchran isnt the beefiest of footballers is he.
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Exactly, he has not fully developed yet, and we have seen over at Arsenal how easily their young players get smashed up if brought in too early.

When that happens as a young player, you start to doubt yourself that you will be able to hack it in such a tough league and loss of confidence sets in.

This guy could be playing football for Chelsea and England till the age of 35, so I really don't see the need to force the issue and take a big risk with the lad.

i seen him play good feww times last season in reserve and he was pretyy invisible to by honest.yes he had good few games however he is far from became regular member in our team.he need to be much stronger then he is now.i do agree with article above.he would perfetly suits to spanish l however lets play him in some of the carling cup ,fa cup games or games we will be few goals up so he can gain confidence.he is 3-4 years from being regualr starter.

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It's definately not 'now or never' he has plenty of time. And I agree with other posters he isn't ready to start week in week out. But I'm a big fan of his and I can't help but feel we're being overly cautious with him, in the games he played last season he mixed with the first-team well and while he's no Ivanovic and Drogba he was hardly getting bullied, he was holding off players much bigger than him such as Diawara for Masreille and 6"5 Ceesay vs. Zilina. His quick feet also help him in this respect.

And like I said, he shouldn't start every game, but I would be happy with around 15-20 starts in the All Comptetions, and see him rotated with Lampard and Benayoun, there would be no point after him having such a good breakthrough season and winning young player of the season and not being further up the pecking order, he has to progress and and get experience. This season Josh is approaching an age where many English players made their break-through, usually in top-half teams, and many of them haven't looked back.

While a player being young in most cases isn't an excuse to him just for the sake of him being young, in some cases like this I also don't think it's an excuse to not give him playing time.

Having said that if Essien's injury as as bad as we assume we will probably need a new DM to be back-up to Mikel unless we plan on using Ramires or Josh when Mikel goes toACON/if he's unavailable.

AVB must have Josh on board with the squad all season to work with him, believe in him, encourage him and start him in a number of games, with Lamps, Benny and Modric (maybe) in support.

Drogba on the left

Now or never ??

I don´t think so. Josh is only 18 and still has another 2 or 3 years before he´ll be ready to establish himself in the first team.

People need to chill about Josh. He´s very young and will need a couple of years to develop both physically and as footballer.

I'm with Kenyan here

He's only 17, it's hardly now or never. Would like to see him feature more next season though

He's wasted at DM, imo 15-20 appearances in all competitions isn't too unrealistic

However, I'm not talking 15 minute cameo appearances against Bolton here, if the lad is to develop I'm talking meaningful game time. If he's not starting he should be playing a full half

I think quite a few of our fans (in the past year or two) are guilty of thinking cos they watch a lot of reserve or youth football team football on either our channel or even in person, that made em more qualified than someone like myself who only watches the first team. I'm sorry, NO! Josh is an exciting prospect. I'm not gonna question his talent, but c'mon let's be realistic here. He wasn't even selected for the U21 Tournament that was minus Jack Wilshere.

He's not ready! I watch the first team week in week out and I can state without needing to be 'an expert' that this is not like the 80s. There's a massive gulf between reserve and premiership football! I'll be more than happy if he continues to show progress and gets some more game time than the previous season. In fact I'd be doubly pleased because that would mean we would be playing well enough to give Josh the game time!

The fact he wasn't selected for the U21 tournament was a) a mistake and b) only one other player his age was included in the squad and he didn't get any game time in the Finals.

only one other player his age was included in the squad and he didn't get any game time in the Finals.
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a point that re-enforces the view that players of that young aqe are protected by club and country.

Blue Kenyan

We'll just have to agree to differ here! He's shown glimpses of what we hope for him, but he also showed last season that he's not yet a starter! I've been just as guilty of believing I knew something the Chelsea and England Manager did not but if I'm truly honest (with exception of Taylor) I don't and I'm sure neither do you! His time will come, but I'm sorry but I still agree with Carlo's stance on the youth last season - the time was never really right! Oh and as AVB has already stated he wants to hit the ground running, I'm prepared to bet Josh doesn't start against Stoke!

We're all in agreeement - of course he shouldn't start. But he must be encouraged and worked on with his home club. Make him feel valued and believed in for the long term.He must work hard and learn, and he and we must all be patient.

We're not all in agreement on the matter of a loan. I think that's wrong for him.

How can he not be encouraged when he made 6 CL appearances last season.

That is a fantastic show of faith by the ex-manager and the club and also a fantastic achievement by the player.