About a month ago, in what seemed like a bit of an (early) April Fools' joke, Chelsea signed Yasin Ben El-Mhanni on trial from non-league something or other. Lewes FC was his previous calling place, though he had had a couple trials (or auditions at least) at other Premier League clubs, too.
@D_Peezy He's the 11 in yellow here. https://t.co/Ek3d9Q6kk1
— Chelsea Youth (@chelseayouth) April 25, 2016
But the 20-year-old was and still is mostly known for his skills and tricks videos on YouTube. "Unbelievable" skills at that. Unbelievable, I tells ya!
El-Mhanni made his unofficial Chelsea debut in a closed-doors friendly against QPR's youth team a few weeks ago (Chelsea won 2-0 thanks to an Islam Feruz — remember him? — brace), but on Monday, he made his official debut as well, starting for Chelsea U21 in our 3-1 U21 Premier League win up in Middlesbrough. The Chelsea star of the day was Reece Mitchell, who won a penalty for Chelsea's first goal (Colkett making no mistake), caused the turnover for Chelsea's second (El-Mhanni alert to coolly finish it off), and then grabbed our third from 18-year-old Miro Muheim's cross. Highlights of all goals, including the silly mix-up at the other end that gifted Boro a consolation goal, are available on Chelsea TV.
Here's El-Mhanni's goal:
It's unclear how long El-Mhanni's trial will last; I'm honestly surprised it's gone this long. Perhaps there is something to it after all?