| Full name | Joshua Mark McEachran |
|---|
| Date of birth | 1 March 1993 (1993-03-01) (age 18) |
| Place of birth | Oxford, England |
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) |
| Playing position | Midfielder |
Joshua Mark "Josh" McEachran (born 1 March 1993 in
Oxford,
England) is an English
footballer who plays as a midfielder for
Premier League club
Chelsea.
Early life
McEachran was born in Oxford to Scottish parents.
[2] He began playing football for Garden City F.C. in the Oxford Mail Boys League, where he was spotted by a
Chelsea scout.
[3] He then joined the Blues as an academy player at the age of 8 and rose through the ranks while juggling his academic responsibilities at
Marlborough School in
Woodstock.
[4]
Club career
Chelsea
McEachran made his competitive first team debut for Chelsea against
MŠK Žilina on 15 September 2010 as a substitute.
[5] He became the first player to be born after the
UEFA Champions League started on 25 November 1992 to take part in the competition.
[5][6] McEachran made his home debut in a
League Cup tie against
Newcastle United, where he again came on as a substitute.
He made his
Premier League debut on 25 September in a 1-0 defeat to
Manchester City.
[7] On 23 November 2010 manager
Carlo Ancelotti announced that McEachran would make his first start against
MŠK Žilina in which he did. He followed this up by playing the entire game away to
Marseille in a
UEFA Champions League group game.
McEachran started for Chelsea against Newcastle at
Stamford Bridge on 15 May 2011. His inclusion in the line-up was viewed by
pundits as a suggestion that the Chelsea administration are keen to retain McEachran and that they recognise the importance of younger players in an otherwise ageing team.
[8] He then came off the bench to make his ninth league appearance away to
Everton F.C. in the final game of the
2010-11 Premier League season.
[9] In his debut season in the Chelsea first team, McEachran was awarded the Chelsea Young Player of The Year award on 19 May 2011.
[10]
On 15 July 2011, he signed a new five-year deal, alongside team-mate
Ryan Bertrand who signed a four-year deal with Chelsea.
[11] He scored his first
Chelsea senior team goal against
Aston Villa with a first minute tap-in to open the scoring. Chelsea went on to win the game 2-0 and win the
Barclays Asia Trophy. On 12 August 2011, Chelsea announced he would wear the number 20 shirt, last worn by
Deco, for the
2011/12 season.
International career
McEachran represented England at U-16 level and was part of the
England U17 side to win the
2010 European Under-17 Football Championship. He quickly progressed through the ranks and has since gone on to become a regular in the
England U19 side and was further rewarded for his good early season form with Chelsea's first team by making his debut for
England U21 against
Germany on 16 November 2010 at the age of just 17.
Style of play
Former Chelsea player and former Chelsea assistant coach
Ray Wilkins recalled the first time he laid eyes on McEachran saying: "A couple of years back, when I had just joined Chelsea, I was watching an Under-17 match between us and Racing, a club side from Argentina. Josh was playing, despite only being 15; I'd never seen him play before, but in the first half he cut inside someone and played an inch-perfect pass inside the full-back. I turned to the other Chelsea coaches next to me and said, 'That's
Liam Brady!' It was the biggest compliment I could think of at the time."
Stuart Pearce, the
England national football team under-21 manager, praised McEachran after a friendly against
Italy. He said, "Chelsea think extremely highly of him (Josh) and you can see why. He's got the ability and the vision that you know, if players run off of him, he's got the ability to find them with passes. All of our cutting passes probably came from him. I think, in Josh, he's got a really outstanding talent, similar to
Jack Wilshere, and it bodes well for us."
Under the management of
Carlo Ancelotti, McEachran was deployed mainly as a defensive midfielder in his appearances for the first team, usually replacing
Michael Essien or
John Obi Mikel, although his preferred position is as a centre or attacking midfielder.
Honours
Club
- Chelsea
International
England U-17
Individual
