Having joined Chelsea’s pre-season squad for the tour of Asia tour last month with a chance to impress manager Antonio Conte and perhaps earn a spot in the first-team, Kenedy instead found himself the centre of attention for all the wrong reasons, as two of his social media posts threatened to undo all the good work done by Chelsea both on and off the pitch in China. As Chelsea looked to control damage, Kenedy was sent back to Cobham after spending only a few minutes on the pitch in our 3-0 win over Arsenal.
But even before the incident, one could argue that his chances of making it to the first-team were slim at best, even with no recognized backup to Marcos Alonso at left wing-back in the squad.
And so, unsurprisingly, Conte confirmed that Kenedy will not be staying at Stamford Bridge this season and will instead move to another club on a loan deal ... but hopefully one that will turn out better than last season’s situation that say Kenedy play only 10 minutes of football over six months at Watford.
"I think that Kenedy last season didn't play before he went on loan to Watford. He only played 10 minutes.”
"When he went back with Chelsea [in January] he played only twice. For him, his development, it is important to find the right solution for him to play regularly."
-Antonio Conte; source: London Evening Standard
Kenedy is still quite young at just 21, and still a promising prospect who could have a lengthy career at Stamford Bridge. But before that happens, he needs a whole lot of maturing both on and off the pitch.