It hasn’t been exactly a career changing move for Lucas Piazon since he left Brazil for Chelsea, hardly playing for the team last season, which has gotten many to think he doesn’t have much of a future there, possibly alerting Liverpool at the opportunity to sign him.
Liverpool were quite pleased with their Brazilian spending last season, doing quite well with Philippe Coutinho, arriving in the middle of the season and providing a refereshing change in the midfield with his dribbling, passing and creativity.
Piazon is slightly younger (19), and plays a very similar position to that of Coutinho, although he usually likes to spend his time in a bit more central role, while Coutinho does his play-making from the left wing more often than not.
As expected, after paying £5 million (which might rise to £10 million) in early 2012, Chelsea haven’t had much use for the young Brazilian, who has appeared for the U-15 and U-17 teams for the Selecao, yet has gone unnoticed over the last couple of years because of his lack of playing time, making only one appearance for the senior club since his arrival.
This year he played a bit with the U-21 side, but the real opportunity for him to show his worth was during a loan to Malaga, giving him 11 matches in the Spanish league, most of them coming off the bench, helping the team out with two assists.
How likely are Chelsea to sell him? Like many youngsters Chelsea put their hands on, there doesn’t seem to be too much room for development at the club itself, and eventually, many of them start appearing somewhere else on loans and eventually sold. While it’s hard to weigh in on just how good Piazon is right now, there’s no doubt the teenager is talented, and maybe on a team with a little less expectations and a bit more room for experimenting, like Liverpool, he can finally have his big European breakthrough.