Tariq Lamptey chooses Brighton & Hove Albion over Chelsea — report

The 5’4 teenaged right-back who came on as a sub for his Chelsea Premier League debut on the 29th of December in a 2-1 win over Arsenal has apparently played his last match with the Blues. Grand opening grand closing, as the kids say.

According to Goal, the bright lights of Brighton were enough to lure his gaze away from the blue part of the metropolis of London.

Chelsea’s Tariq Lamptey has shocked Frank Lampard by agreeing on a deal for an undisclosed fee to leave the club for Brighton in January after rejecting a contract offer with the west Londoners.

The Blues have opted to cash in now with Brighton also able to wait and sign him for free in the summer. Brighton pushed to get the deal done with offers from Lille and Torino also on the table.

source; Goal

Interesting.

Of course Reece James is also a right-back, built like a tank, and only ten months older. And though Reece has had a tough time with injuries recently, they aren’t the kind that suggest anything chronic. So, at best, Lamptey was looking at being a substitute right-back, or being forced to figure out life as a left-back to get minutes.

Still, Lamptey’s Chelsea career began in 2006, and it is quite annoying to see that much investment in a youth player result in only one appearance in the league — particularly when Chelsea and Lampard have finally, and substantively, insisted on a pathway to the first-team.

We do wish him well, though. So long as he effectively convinces everyone at Brighton to save their 84th minute bicycle-kick goals for any other London club.