Chelsea youngster signs new deal and re-joins next-door neighbours on loan

Lucas Piazon, who’s a rather ancient 23 years old these days, has signed a new two-year deal with Chelsea today. His previous contract was set to run out next summer. He will also subsequently spend the season back on loan at Fulham, as he did last season.

Piazon signed for Chelsea in 2011 at the age of 17 for a fairly hefty £8m and joined when he turned 18 from Sao Paulo, making his debut for the first-team in the 2012-13 season, seeing some playing time in the cup competitions under Rafa Benitez and missing that penalty in an 8-0 drubbing of Aston Villa. He also showed signs of great promise in the first half of the subsequent season on loan at Vitesse Arnhem, but tailed off rapidly due to a variety of attitude-related reasons. He also spent time on loan at Malaga, Eintracht Frankfurt and Reading before finding a niche at Fulham last season; he wasn’t a nailed-on starter for Slaviska Jokanovic’s side but chipped in with helpful contributions whenever called upon and endeared himself to the fans. It was largely expected that he’d re-join Fulham on a permanent deal instead of a loan, but we’d be wise to consider the role of his agent in this contract extension.

(Ed.note: Perhaps if Bertolucci had been advising Chalobah, too, we could’ve worked a similar deal with him? As we’ve seen repeatedly in recent times, agents and clubs’ relationships with agents can be powerful motivating forces.)

Nevertheless, hopefully Piazon will have an even better season at Craven Cottage this season and secure a permanent deal next summer. Fulham came very close to promotion last season and will be looking to build on that with a good transfer window.