I have to admit, I haven't seen an awful lot of Patrick Bamford. The young striker is currently plying his trade at Championship side Nottingham Forrest, but as his contract is set to expire this summer it seems certain that he'll be moving on to a new club soon. As a U23 player who's already signed his first professional contract, Bamford would be subject to a transfer fee to be decided by a tribunal should he depart in the summer. With Forrest having an immediate need for an injection of cash it seems very possible that they could decide to cash in now as opposed to waiting until the summer to receive anything for a player that seems set to leave anyway.
I hadn't really heard much about Bamford until recently, He's now made a pair of appearances for the England youth teams and has been in absolutely ridiculous goal scoring form as of late. The 5'11" attacker has played a variety of positions for the Forrest youth team. He's played both on the left wing and left midfield, but recently has found some major success as a striker/center forward. He actually had a two game span where he found the back of the net 9 times for the U18's. He's known for having respectable speed, coordination, and balance.
Going forward it's unclear exactly what Bamford's best position will be. He's looked awfully good of late as a striker, but he's certainly got the physical tools and crossing ability to see him excel on the wing. From the few times I've seen him I can't really say he's made much of an impression, but in fairness I'm usually focusing on the Chelsea youngsters during England U18 games. His youtube highlights are certainly impressive though, and we all know that's the best way to judge a player. This set of highlights is from a Southampton point of view, but the Forrest #9 was very impressive in this particular game.
Bamford is a bit of an unknown quantity, but I'm guessing that our scouting department has done their homework on this one. For the price we're supposedly offering I just can't see a whole lot of downside in this deal. 1 million pounds is a gamble that Chelsea can easily afford to take if they feel Bamford may eventually be a Premier League caliber player, but I certainly wouldn't expect to see much of him anytime soon. There isn't much financial risk to this potential move, as he'll likely not decrease in value over the next 4-5 years enough that we can't recoup a fair portion of our investment should he not make the grade.
He's yet to establish himself as a Championship regular, so I'd guess a purchase of Bamford would likely see him spending considerable time with the reserve squad in the near future as he develops to that level. Like Kenneth Omeruo, Bamford would be one to watch a few years down the line. Don't look at this potential move as one to help in the near future, this is clearly a purchase that would be with 3-4 years from now in mind. It's nice to see the club focusing some real efforts on the reserve team now, that type of purchasing can only make us better in the long run.