The Premier League champions were looking for some gumption, evidence that their once-trademark response to setback, to rise again and grab a fixture by the scruff of its neck was still alive, still part of the Chelsea metabolism.
And they found it in the youngest member of their starting line-up.
Strong and owner of an adhesive left foot, he drove on at the West Ham United defence, zig-zagged, lurched left, swayed to his right, cheered on by a stimulated London derby crowd.
The player rolling up his sleeves last Saturday afternoon at Stamford Bridge, his side a goal down was Kenedy. He is 19 years old, and signed for Chelsea last summer, a freshman from Fluminense.
It is a packed conveyor belt that brings young footballers in and out of Chelsea, but Kenedy bucked one trend straight away. He has survived two transfer windows without being loaned out, which puts him in a minority among the many precocious talents the club have accumulated on their extensive payroll.
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Those who attended the 2013 Under-17 World Cup in the UAE may remember Kenedy, though his body has gained some musculature since then. He is sturdy and six foot tall. He was one of several of Brazil’s aspiring attacking players at the tournament, tipped to make their careers in elite European leagues.
There is still a rawness about Kenedy that gives away his tender age: His confident runs and willingness to take on defenders will be more effective when he plays more with his head up, his eyes casting around for where colleagues might be moving.
But that sort of poise and awareness can be developed in a player during his 20s, and Guus Hiddink, Chelsea’s interim coach, sees a positive long-term future for a prospect in whom the London club invested around €8 million (Dh32.8m) in his initial transfer fee.
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Mindful of Chelsea’s reputation for high-turnover of creative midfielders, many of them costly, Hiddink said at the weekend: “He will save Chelsea a lot of money.”
Back in October 2013, Kenedy was not necessarily the Brazilian Under-17 player most heavily tipped to make it furthest.
His compatriot, the attacking right-back, Auro, caught the eye of The National's correspondents at the junior World Cup. The striker Boschilia and the attacking midfielder Nathan scored 11 goals between them in Brazil's five matches. Both those have made it to Europe, and to clubs with a reputation for scouting eagerly in South America.
Boschilia is AS Monaco's property, though in January they loaned him out to Standard Liege; Nathan is playing at Dutch club Vitesse Arnhem, who have an arrangement with Chelsea as a nursery for their prospects. Like Kenedy, Nathan joined Chelsea last summer, but was immediately loaned to Vitesse.
A great deal can happen to a promising sportsman between his mid-to-late-teens and turning 20, which the age many of the starlets of UAE 2013 are reaching now.
The body alters, sometimes for the better, sometimes with a loss of speed or dexterity. The first professional contract arrives: That means dealing with unprecedented wealth, the heady possibility of success, and selecting the right guidance, picking the most suitable club.
Kenedy is an impatient one, but he has played Uefa Champions League football this season, been trusted with responsibilities, notably to cover at left-back, not his most usual role. What is next for him will depend a good deal on who takes over from Hiddink in June. The new manager, probably Antonio Conte, the Italian, will find good references for the player waiting on his desk.
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Others among the boys who travelled hopefully to the Arabian Gulf 30 months ago have become men quickly over the last year.
In the next fortnight, Kelechi Iheanacho's diary has in it two heavyweight matches for Nigeria's senior national team, and a Champions League quarter-final. Iheanacho only stops being a teenager in October; he has been a beacon for Manchester City, who recruited him the summer after he had won the Golden Boot at the UAE tournament, top scorer for the prolific champions of that competition.
Iheanacho played a pivotal role for the Super Eagles against Egypt in Kaduna on Friday in qualifying for next year’s Africa Cup of Nations. His electric shot hit the crossbar and fell to teammate Etebo Oghenekaro for their goal in a 1-1 draw.
He can anticipate some minutes, too, when City take on Paris Saint-Germain in the last eight of club football’s most prestigious tournament in early April. Almost every month, he passes a new milestone: He scored his first goal for City in September, a match-winner against Crystal Palace; he hit a hat-trick in the FA Cup in January, and was promoted to City’s Champions League roster in February.
It may not be long before his conspicuous, speedy sidekick during the early outings of that exhilarating Under-17 Nigerian team in the UAE joins him in the Premier League, and in the senior Super Eagles forward line.
Isaac Success, who suffered an injury in the group stage at UAE 2013 that curtailed his tournament, is far from incognito in Spain's La Liga, thanks partly to his colourful haircuts. His Granada are battling against relegation, but would be struggling further without the pace and chutzpah he brings to their forward line.
He is not yet fully grown-up, as his impetuousness sometimes reveals: he was sent off last weekend. But he has made his breakthrough as a professional, missing juts two league matches so far this season. If Granada go down from the Spanish top flight, Success will not go with them. Watford, who have strong links to Granada and to Italy’s Udinese – who originally signed Success immediately after the 2013 Under-17 World Cup – want him from August.
Spain has also been the hothouse for the flowering of Alen Halilovic. The community of international scouts knew the Croatian winger was special before he came to the Gulf with his national Under-17s, and though his team made no great impact on the tournament, his pedigree could be glimpsed. Barcelona saw it, and have him under contract.
They loaned him to Sporting Gijon this season, where, like Success, he has developed in the tough environment of the wrong end of the top division in Spain, been required to work on the weaker, defensive aspects of his game.
Nimble and clever on the ball, he has his sights on a trip to France with the senior Croatia squad, in which he has been included for this month’s friendlies, at Euro 2016.
“The European championships would be a dream come true,” Halilovic said, “and I’m grateful that Sporting have given me the opportunity to be noticed.”
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