Long-forgotten Chelsea goalkeeper Jamal Blackman joins Vitesse training one year after breaking leg

Since first joining first-team training at Chelsea during the 2011-12 season, and being one of the several youngsters to travel with the team to Munich later that season, goalkeeper Jamal Blackman has featured in 18 matchday squads for the Blues, mostly as the backup goalkeeper to backup goalkeeper Asmir Begović during the 2015-16 season (with Thibaut Courtois out injured).

Blackman didn’t quite get to make his debut however, and spent subsequent seasons out on loan at Wycombe Wanderers (then in League Two), Sheffield United (then in the Championship), and Leeds United. He impressed at both Wycombe and Sheffield, winning the former’s Young Player of the Year award, even, but his time at Leeds was cut short by a broken leg suffered last November.

The recently turned 26-year-old has been working hard ever since at getting back to full fitness. Just last week, Chelsea Academy and Reserves goalkeeper coach Christophe Lollichon illustrated Jamal’s progress with a couple training highlights from Cobham.

And yesterday, there was confirmation that Blackman has returned to full training as well. During the summer, he had officially joined Vitesse on loan, but remained at Chelsea to complete his recovery (as is usual for injured loanees) — his Blues contract is good through June 2021.

But he’s now ready for proper football once again! Best of luck going forward, Jamal!