Chelsea wonderkid Charly Musonda happy with La Liga opportunity, laughs at Barcelona rumors

Chelsea young star Charly Musonda Jr. took to the Spanish league like a fish to water when he joined Real Betis at the end of the winter transfer window. His arrival heralded an uptick of results for the struggling side (3 wins, 3 draws), but lately, the losses have come back.  Before last weekend's 1-0 win over Levante, Betis had lost 3 in a row, including a 5-1 shellacking at the hands of Atletico Madrid.

Despite those results, Musonda is more than happy that he made the choice to go on loan in January.

"Sometimes the only thing a footballer needs is an opportunity. I was waiting for it, I wanted to show my football [skills]. Betis has been the perfect place because of the league, for being a club with so many good fans and the luck that I had that everything in my first match worked out well when facing Valencia."

"These are my first matches at the elite level, in a league as difficult as the Spanish one. I'm 19 years old and I have never played against professional players of that level beforehand. It's normal that you can't give your maximum effort every time, but I hope to recover my best form in these last match-ups in La Liga."

Musonda has seen considerable time as a central (attacking) midfielder during his years in the Chelsea Academy, but his versatility has also made him capable of playing on the wings if needed. At Betis, he's only been deployed as a winger but he has no complains about playing out of his favoured position - as long as he gets to be in the game.

"I consider myself a 'number 10', and I prefer to play behind the striker. It's where I've played most times [in my career]. But due to my skill set I can also play on the wings. If the manager believes that I have to play there [on the wings], I will do it. What I want is to play and learn."

Back in 2012, Musonda could have joined Barcelona instead of Chelsea but chose to come to London with the rest of his family, with his brothers joining the academy ranks along with him. Of course he won't rule out the possibility of perhaps getting a shot at Barcelona in the future, but for now, he's not thinking that far into the future.

"I might play for Barcelona in the future (laughs). I could, but I chose Chelsea for my family. In football you never know what might happen to you."

"Right now I'm not sure [if I will stay with Betis]. We will see in the summer. But there's a great chance that I will stay because I'm quite happy in these parts and everything has been perfect so far. [Betis] is a great club, no doubt about that."

-Charly Musonda; source: AS

His current spell at Betis seems to be helping Musonda greatly in his development and he seems to have settled quite well and quite quickly.  Spending a further year in La Liga is probably the best step forward at this point for the 19-year-old highly talented and highly promising prospect.