Josh McEachran
 McEachran warming up for Chelsea during the 2010–11 season | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Joshua Mark McEachran | ||
| Date of birth | 1 March 1993 | ||
| Place of birth | Oxford, England | ||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)[1] | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Chelsea | ||
| Number | 20 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2001–2010 | Chelsea | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2010– | Chelsea | 10 | (0) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2007–2009 | England U-16 | 5 | (0) |
| 2009–2010 | England U-17 | 12 | (1) |
| 2010– | England U-19 | 6 | (1) |
| 2010– | England U-21 | 4 | (0) |
|
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 23 September 2011 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 23 September 2011 | |||
Joshua Mark "Josh" McEachran (born 1 March 1993 in Oxford, England) is an English footballer who plays as a midfielder for Premier League club Chelsea. A left-sided or central creative midfielder.
Mceachran made his Chelsea debut aged just 17 years and six months in September 2010, coming on as a substitute in a 4-1 away Champions League win in Zilina.
Early life
McEachran was born in Oxford to Scottish parents.[2] He began playing football for Garden City F.C. in the Oxford Mail Boys League, where he was spotted by a Chelsea scout.[3] He then joined the Blues as an academy player at the age of 8 and rose through the ranks while juggling his academic responsibilities at Marlborough School in Woodstock.[4]
Club career
Chelsea
McEachran made his competitive first team debut for Chelsea against MŠK Žilina on 15 September 2010 as a substitute.[5] He became the first player to be born after the UEFA Champions League started on 25 November 1992 to take part in the competition.[5][6] McEachran made his home debut in a League Cup tie against Newcastle United, where he again came on as a substitute.
He made his Premier League debut on 25 September in a 1-0 defeat to Manchester City.[7] On 23 November 2010 manager Carlo Ancelotti announced that McEachran would make his first start against MŠK Žilina in which he did. He followed this up by playing the entire game away to Marseille in a UEFA Champions League group game.
McEachran started for Chelsea against Newcastle at Stamford Bridge on 15 May 2011, a 2-2 draw at home to Newcastle and in total, he made nine starts and 13 sub appearances in campaign with then manager Carlo Ancelotti preferring to use him in a deep midfield role. His inclusion in the line-up was viewed by pundits as a suggestion that the Chelsea administration are keen to retain McEachran and that they recognise the importance of younger players in an otherwise ageing team.[8] He then came off the bench to make his ninth league appearance away to Everton F.C. in the final game of the 2010-11 Premier League season.[9] In his debut season in the Chelsea first team, McEachran was awarded the Chelsea Young Player of The Year award on 19 May 2011.[10]
On 15 July 2011, he signed a new five-year deal, alongside team-mate Ryan Bertrand who signed a four-year deal with Chelsea.[11] He scored his first Chelsea senior team goal against Aston Villa with a first minute tap-in to open the scoring. Chelsea went on to win the game 2-0 after a 58th minute Fernando Torres roundup and won the Barclays Asia Trophy. On 12 August 2011, Chelsea announced he would wear the number 20 shirt, last worn by Deco, for the 2011/12 season.[12] He requested a loan transfer to Wigan Athletic but Chelsea turned down his request, with Chelsea citing him in their first team plans.[13] McEachran has been an unused substitute for Chelsea's first three Premier League games of the 2011/12 season. He started the Carling Cup match against Fulham which Chelsea won 4-3 on penalties.[14]
International career
McEachran represented England at U-16 level and was part of the England U17 side to win the 2010 European Under-17 Football Championship. He quickly progressed through the ranks and has since gone on to become a regular in the England U19 side and was further rewarded for his good early season form with Chelsea's first team by making his debut for England U21 against Germany on 16 November 2010 at the age of just 17.
Style of play
 |
McEachran's best attributes are his ability of unlocking defenses with his close control on the ball, vision and composure. McEachran has said he idolized Zinedine Zidane and Andrés Iniesta growing up. McEachran has been likened as a blend of Iniesta and Xavi by pundits.
Former Chelsea player and former Chelsea assistant coach Ray Wilkins recalled the first time he laid eyes on McEachran saying: "A couple of years back, when I had just joined Chelsea, I was watching an Under-17 match between us and Racing, a club side from Argentina. Josh was playing, despite only being 15; I'd never seen him play before, but in the first half he cut inside someone and played an inch-perfect pass inside the full-back. I turned to the other Chelsea coaches next to me and said, 'That's Liam Brady!' It was the biggest compliment I could think of at the time."
Stuart Pearce, the England national football team under-21 manager, praised McEachran after a friendly against Italy. He said, "Chelsea think extremely highly of him (Josh) and you can see why. He's got the ability and the vision that you know, if players run off of him, he's got the ability to find them with passes. All of our cutting passes probably came from him. I think, in Josh, he's got a really outstanding talent, similar to Jack Wilshere, and it bodes well for us."
Under the management of Carlo Ancelotti, McEachran was deployed mainly as a defensive midfielder in his appearances for the first team, usually replacing Michael Essien or John Obi Mikel, although his preferred position is as a centre or attacking midfielder.
However, under the new Chelsea manager André Villas-Boas he was given a more advanced attacking role. Villas-Boas commented on McEachran saying "This is a youngster with so much talent, Physique-wise, there is nothing to him at the moment. In the changing room you see him getting ready to go and train and he looks nothing like a footballer. His power and pace is in his head. He went on "But you could say the same about Luka Modric, Jack Wilshere or Samir Nasri. All are built with slight physiques but they are all among the finest midfield players in the world. Josh is going that way. His brain is always five yards ahead of the rest. I see in him very much as part of the future of this club."
Personal Life
McEachran has been dating Corrie star Brooke Vincent since May 2011.
Club statistics
(correct as of 26 June 2011)
| Club | Season | League | Cup[15] | Europe | Total | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | Apps | Goals | Assists | ||
| Chelsea | 2010–11 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 0 |
| 2011–12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Career total | 10 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 0 | |
- As of 26 June 2011[16]
Discipline
| Red Cards | 0 |
| Yellow Cards | 1 |
| Fouls | 5 |
| Fouls/Cards Ratio | 0.2 |
As of 28 August 2011
Honours
Club
- FA Youth Cup: 2010
- Barclays Premier League: Runners Up 2010-11
- Premier League Asia Trophy: 2011
International
Individual
References
- ^ "Premier League Player Profile". Premier League. Retrieved 30 April 2011.
- ^ Hannah, Roger (5 October 2010). "Levein eyes Chelsea kid". The Scottish Sun. Retrieved 5 October 2010.
- ^ Knox, Mike (17 September 2010). "Josh is Champions League record-breaker". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 17 September 2010.
- ^ Fleming, Mark (22 September 2010). "McEachran to star as standard bearer for Chelsea's young lions". The Independent. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
- ^ a b Sanghera, Mandeep (15 September 2010). "MSK Zilina 1 - 4 Chelsea". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
- ^ Bevan, Chris (15 September 2010). "Wednesday football as it happened". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 September 2010.
- ^ Ballard, Ed (25 September 2010). "Manchester City v Chelsea: live". London: Telegraph. Retrieved 26 September 2010.
- ^ "Chelsea 2–2 Newcastle". BBC News. 15 May 2011. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
- ^ "Match report: Everton 1 Chelsea 0". Chelsea F.C. 22 May 2011. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
- ^ "Cech wins the big one". Chelsea F.C. 19 May 2011. Retrieved 19 June 2011.
- ^ "McEachran and Bertrand Sign Long-Term Deals". Chelsea F.C. 15 July 2011. Retrieved 15 July 2011.
- ^ "Squad Numbers Announced". chelseafc.com. 12 August 2011. Retrieved 12 August 2011.
- ^ "Chelsea reject Wigan approach for McEachran loan". tribalfootball.com. 31 August 2011. Retrieved 03 September 2011.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ "Chelsea win on penalties". Chelseafc.com. 21 September 2011. Retrieved 21 September 2011.
- ^ Includes FA Cup and League Cup
- ^ "Joshua McEachran - Statistics". ESPN Soccernet. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
External links
- Josh McEachran at Soccerbase
- Premier League profile
- BBC Sport Profile
Template:England Squad 2010 UEFA European Under-17 Championship
