Chelsea are often criticized — unfairly, I might add — for our policy of loaning out a veritable army of youngsters, ruining them one season away from Stamford Bridge, one paycheck larger-than-most-would-afford, one failed integration into the Chelsea first-team, one failure to live up to heightened expectations at a time. Never mind that prospects fail to pan out regularly even without bouncing from loan to loan, when somebody like Josh McEachran doesn't become the next Xavi, there is a need to point fingers.
That's not to say fingers should never be pointed at the club. Loan choices and development paths, even though presumably players have a say as well, can often be questioned. Tomas Kalas to Köln, Wallace to Inter come to mind straight away. Though Wallace may have been more his agent's doing than anything. Goes to show that fingers can be pointed in many directions.
Some of course get tired of the road warrior life. Ryan Bertrand, Oriol Romeu, the aforementioned McEachran are just a few of the more high profile examples. Lucas Piazon calls this the hardest part, moving from country to country, league to league. And yet, for him at least, for now, it's still all worth it.
"The reason I came to England at 17 was to play for Chelsea. All the players out on loan, we all want to play for Chelsea."
"We also want to play in one of the biggest leagues in the world and we want to compete well. If it is not possible I will have to move on and find the best solution for my career."
"But it is important for me to have a good season. I have to do a good job, score goals and show people what I can do. For me it's good to stay here in Reading, close to Chelsea and experience English football."
-Lucas Piazon; source: Mail
While Piazon has sounded a bit less positive about the whole Chelsea experience in recent interviews, he's clearly back in the fold. He's even signed a new extension, his contract now set to expire in the summer of 2018. Surely, if the Chelsea loan policy was so evil and career-crushing, he (and many others) would not join in the first place, would not sign new contract extensions, and would not agree to repeated short-term moves across England and Europe.
And in the end, even if their futures lie away from Stamford Bridge — and for the vast majority it will, mirroring the vast majority in any big club's youth system — they will still be set up for productive, successful careers in football while resting in the knowledge that they have at least chased their dream and given it a go.