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After spending the 2018-19 season on loan at Bristol City and garnering plenty of plaudits from the Robins’ coaching staff and fans for his consistently impressive 32 appearances in all competitions, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that young Chelsea loanee Jay Dasilva would be signing permanently for the Championship outfit.
In fact, back in January, the team’s CEO, Mark Ashton had already confirmed that a fee had been agreed, built into the loan contract as a buy-option.
“Jay Dasilva we have an option to purchase agreed with Chelsea, fee agreed all done. That can’t change, it could change on the players’ side if he decides he doesn’t want to come but the fee is all agreed.”
- Mark Ashton; source: Bristol Live
Unfortunately for Ashton & Co, Dasilva has not made up his mind just yet, and for right now, all he’s thinking about is playing for England at the U21 European Championships, where the Three Lions opened by shooting themselves in the foot against France, concdeing twice in the final five minutes, and losing 2-1.
“Nothing [on my future] at the moment, I’m just concentrating on this tournament and getting the job done, and then we will go from there.
“I’m always pretty confident building up to any game and when it is a big tournament like this, I’m relishing the opportunity to show what I can do. It is a good platform to show what I can do.
“We know there is a tough task ahead. We know what we have to do and we are looking forward to the challenge. You can see the way that we played, the players that we have got. It is very, very exciting for England going forward. We came here to win every game so it does not really change our mindset in that sense. We want to win the game and we can do with the players we have got. It is not over yet.”
-Jay Dasilva; source: Bristol Live
With Marcos Alonso signing a new 5-year deal last year and Emerson breaking through finally last season as well, opportunities for Dasilva, who has two years left on his contract at Chelsea may continue to be limited. But both of the older left backs have been linked with moves away (and only Emerson has spent much time denying them). Could there be a future at Stamford Bridge for the 21-year-old who was once rather over-enthusiastically called the best left back in England at age 17? Maybe that’s why he hasn’t agreed to stay at Bristol City just yet...