I've never heard of FFD TV (Furious Football Diaries?) before today, but they sent along this lovely video of Lewis Baker showing off some of his tremendous two-footed skills, so now I have. And if you haven't heard of Lewis Baker, you haven't been paying close attention over the last couple years.
Granted, when Chelsea send a player out on loan, even when done with the best intentions, it can often be seen as the first step on the path that inevitably leads the player away from the club. After all, we're still waiting for the 'next John Terry' in terms of homegrown talent, and that's despite Thibaut Courtois winning the Chelsea job while on loan with Atletico and Ryan Bertrand managing to stick around and be relevant for a season or so. We haven't had a truly home-grown player really establish himself at Chelsea since the now 35-year-old captain.
Baker could change all that. He is as True Blue as they come, arriving as a 9-year-old, working his way up the youth ladder, and even making his first-team debut back in 2014 as an 18-year-old. Now, having just turned 20 a few weeks ago, he's currently on his third loan, going abroad for the first time after a short spell at Sheffield Wednesday and a slightly longer at MK Dons (where he played alongside the newest darling of English football, Dele Alli). Hopefully they will get to do that again sometime in the future.
Until then, Baker will be finishing out the season at Chelsea B Vitesse, where he's already made 15 starts and 21 total appearances, and then facing another tough choice in the summer whether to stay or to go (on loan) again.