Morgan Rogers is shining for Chelsea right now, but not every summer signing at Stamford Bridge has had the opportunity to flourish like him.

Rogers has started all of Chelsea’s nine Premier League games so far and scored five goals. The England star certainly deserves the plaudits he is currently receiving.

In contrast, Danny Welbeck, Valentin Barco and Geovany Quenda, who also joined the Blues during the summer, have barely played. Joao Pedro has missed Chelsea’s last two league games because of injury, but that was still not enough for Welbeck to earn a start last month.

He has made just one in the Premier League under Xabi Alonso, while Barco and Quenda have also made one each.

Xabi Alonso has underused Valentin Barco this season

Welbeck’s situation is a bit more understandable than Barco’s. Before Pedro’s injury, Chelsea had an undroppable attack. There was no room for Welbeck in the first XI.

However, it is a much different story in midfield, as Alonso has had trouble in that area of the pitch for most of the season. At one stage, the Spaniard was even using Malo Gusto in the engine room.

As a natural midfielder or a player who has developed into one, Barco should have been fuming. To have racked up just 118 minutes of Premier League football this season despite what is going on in Chelsea’s midfield is disappointing.

Barco will feel that he has much to offer, and his stats from the previous campaign back that up. In possession, the 22-year-old was really able to get on the ball while playing for Strasbourg.

According to FotMob, Barco completed 55.58 passes per 90 minutes. He outperformed 88.1% of midfielders in Ligue 1.

Barco was not just passing for the sake of it, though. He was able to shift the ball forward and begin attacking moves. The Argentine made 14.04 line-breaking passes per 90, outperforming 92.7% of players in his position.

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olusegunjoshua19

Personally I hope Lavia & Barco should be giving their necessary chance to prove themselves than wasting funds on Scott.

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Looking at the above, then, perhaps there have been games this season where the Argentina international could have helped out. Chelsea’s 2-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur instantly springs to mind.

That night, Chelsea’s midfield was dragged all over the place by Mateus Fernandes, James Maddison and Sandro Tonali. Spurs finished that game with a whopping 69% ball possession figure.

Early in that London derby, it was easy to see that Chelsea were struggling in midfield and getting outplayed in that particular area of the pitch. Could Alonso have brought Barco on, even in the first half, and switched to a midfield three to give the Blues more control? It could not have made Chelsea’s engine room any worse. Moises Caicedo and Jordan Henderson were simply overrun as a double pivot.

Back home, Barco is highly rated. “He’s an incredible player for us, he does crazy things,” Barco’s former Boca Juniors teammate Miguel Merentiel said via TyC Sports after one game in 2023.

The ex-Strasbourg man will now be hoping that Alonso shows him that kind of love soon. He may get a starting opportunity this weekend when Chelsea take on Sunderland.

On Wednesday, Moises Caicedo was absent from training. If he is unavailable, it could see Barco earn just his second start in the Premier League this season.