Tyrique George: Chelsea’s Young Talent in the Spotlight
Born to Nigerian parents in London on February 4th 2006, Tyrique George joined Chelsea as an Under-8 after coming through the club’s development centre programme and is coming off an excellent season as a second year scholar at his boyhood club. Having featured forty-seven times in all competitions for the Blues’ Under-18 and Under-21 sides and produced over 30 goal contributions in 2023/24, George is set to push for more in this following season.
Impressing at the Academy level, towards the end of the season, he made the bench on a few occasions for the senior side. He ended up not making his senior debut under Mauricio Pochettino. However, with Enzo Maresca arriving at Stamford Bridge to take over as head-coach, the 18 year-old has a new chance to impress and push to be part of the first team environment.
George is a right-footed attacker who’s able to play on both wings and as an attacking-midfielder, although he’s mostly deployed as a left-winger. He is confident and skillful, capable of carrying the ball forward, dribbling through traffic and delivering highly technical shots.
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When operating from the left, as a right-footer, he looks to cut inside and deliver powerful shots with strong accuracy even from distance. George has impressive finishing skills, which are well-supported by his ball control. His disguise on the ball, allied to nifty footwork and shoulder drop, makes it difficult for his direct opponent to predict when he will choose to cut inside. This gives him the momentary space not only to shoot but also to deliver crosses and cutbacks.
George can deliver accurate shots, crosses and long passes with minimal backlift, making his actions on the ball difficult to stop. He has great ability to work around and operate from the right side, and his ambipedality sure helps in this sense. His agility, shown in an ability to shift both the ball and his body balance, helps create link-up play opportunities and assists his 1v1 attacking in general. Having a strong first touch, he can trap the ball and carry on his intended action with relative ease.
His work on the ball is top-notch. The way he drops his shoulder and the way he carries the ball often encourages his direct opponent to lunge for possession, which he evades by combining this drop of the shoulder with his acceleration, pace and movement. Like that, he shows good ability to work past his direct opponent and run the channels.
To be a key player for the team’s offensive momentum, George shows great spatial awareness and discipline. He shows intelligence in how and where to position himself. This allows him to occupy space in more central areas, where he is as impactful as he is playing wide. One particular strength here is his ability to play in tight spaces.
When drifting inwards to receive in the half-space, his underrated physicality and body strength really show. He is clever in shielding the ball from opponents and in using his body to turn defenders. His understanding of his surroundings adds to this. Like that, he is able to combine with teammates with quick passes or escape the defender and run towards the goal.
George often drops deep in order to support play build-up. He is a solid passer, even though there is room for improvement in terms of consistency. His technique shows in his passing abilities, and he is able to deliver very well weighted passes. However, at times, his passes make the ball pick up more speed than needed. On others, he chooses to hold onto the ball when passing would be a better option.
Defensively, George shows willingness to close down and help in the defensive transitions and out of possession phases. He doesn’t engage in duels very often, but when he does, his tackles tend to be clean. He also does well in pressing and forcing errors from the opposition. On the other hand, there is room for improvement in his performance in aerial duels.
As an 18-year-old still developing, Tyrique George’s got a path ahead of him until he establishes himself as a first-team player. Just for a bit more context, George featured quite regularly for Chelsea’s Under-21 side last season. But, as a second year scholar, he was eligible to play for the Under-18s, for which he featured 21 times, all of them as a starter.
Although he did accumulate more performances in numbers for the Under-21s (26), in most of them (19) he came off the bench. But this should change in 2024/25, as all things point to George taking on a central attacking role in the Blues’ Development Squad. In this sense, opportunities in the senior side’s set-up and some first-team minutes would be very important for his continued development.
At current, newcomer coach Enzo Maresca can call upon Raheem Sterling and Mykhailo Mudryk on the left-wing. The duo have had their good moments, but have not yet proven themselves as consistent options for Chelsea. So, it’s clear that George will be facing competition from players who not only have more professional experience, but who have also cost Chelsea millions in past transfer windows. Nonetheless, the youngster has proven himself at a level that’s enough to justify his push to receive opportunities, and even responsibilities, in the first team setup.
While Maresca will only begin his new role on 1 July 2024, his philosophy and playing principles, as well as his work at Leicester, serve as good predictors of what is expected of the Blues under the Italian’s command. Looking specifically at the attack in the final third phase, although the movement of the two advanced midfielders is what usually draws attention when looking at the attack in the final third, the wingers have a key role in order to make the attacking dynamics work successfully.
In this way, Maresca asks his wingers to maintain their width and look to create havoc with explosive movement and dribbling abilities. As he likes to operate with a full-back inverting to midfield, there aren’t many overlapping situations involving wingers and full-backs. As a result, with the movement in the final third disrupting the opposition’s pressing structure, wingers tend to find themselves facing isolated 1v1 scenarios, which they are expected to succeed in.
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Given his characteristics, George will benefit from the licence to run at defences and act as a key creative outlet from the flanks when breaking inside, into the penalty area. Moreover, the youngster’s finishing skills, even from difficult angles, and his ability to navigate and find teammates in the penalty area could prove invaluable to Maresca over time.
Out of possession, Maresca demands his team to maintain a solid defensive structure that comes into action as soon as the team loses possession with instant counter-pressing. George’s defensive understanding and willingness should favour him in such a manner as well as it should represent a chance for him to improve his defensive contributions.
One aspect in which George will have a special opportunity to grow even further is his man-marking skills. By overloading the central lane of the pitch, the defensive tactics proposed by Maresca force the opposition to play down one of the flanks. This will demand tactical discipline to close spaces, especially in 1v1 situations, in order to counter-press effectively and regain possession as soon as possible.
Tyrique George’s journey through the age groups at Cobham highlights his determination and talent. His mix of creative capabilities and finishing skills make him a very exciting prospect who, after progressing through Chelsea’s youth ranks, now pushes to be a part of the first team squad.
Until now, the 18-year-old has been able to translate his game well through the Academy age groups for both club and country, as George has also been regularly called-up to represent England Youth Teams. Thus, the most important thing from now on is that George is able to translate his game at the professional level, progressively, as he gets his chances to impress.
So, seeing how his creative capabilities and technical attacking skills will translate into the senior game will be interesting. Another feature that will be interesting to monitor as George breaks through to the first team is his progress in the defensive game, as there’s room for improvement in both efficiency and consistency in the defensive phase.
What adds to the good prospects is that there seems to be a fit between George’s main attributes as a player and Maresca’s coaching philosophy and playing principles. The fact that the Italian manager has already worked in the English Academy football scene is another aspect that surely benefits the youngster in his continued development as he aims to make the next leap in his career.
In short, George has a well-rounded game, and it seems like he will also have a favourable environment for him to finally get proper opportunities and break into the senior side while developing and making an impact on the team when assigned responsibility. The youngster being only 18 years old and having just signed a new contract until 2027 brings even more optimism in regard to his potential and future role at Chelsea.
By: Nathalia Tavares / @tavaresnthl
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / Aitor Alcalde – The FA / The FA Collection