Crystal Palace defender Patrick van Aanholt has admitted he almost quit football after falling victim to Chelsea’s loan cycle.
The 28-year-old joined Chelsea in 2007 but, like many academy graduates before and after him, spent a large period of time shifted on loan.
Van Aanholt’s Chelsea nightmare. Five key things to know…
- Patrick van Aanholt joined Chelsea as a 16-year-old from PSV Eindhoven and slotted in well to the club’s academy.
- But as he got older, the Dutchman was sent out on loan to gain more experience with the hope of him eventually challenging Ashley Cole.
- However, that did not happen, with five loan spells in six years unable to see Van Aanholt push his way into the Chelsea team.
- Van Aanholt has revealed there was a period in which he genuinely thought about quitting football.
- Chelsea currently have 40 players out on loan across the globe this season.
Van Aanholt would eventually leave the Blues in 2014, joining Sunderland where he spent three years before moving back to London with Crystal Palace. But the Dutchman has now revealed he thought about quitting football altogether before leaving Chelsea, due to the nightmare of the club’s loan system.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Van Aanholt said: “I was really thinking about quitting football. I was that upset, I wanted to stop.
“I went on holiday with my missus at the time and said, ‘What am I going to do now? No club is going to want me because I haven’t played for a year’. I was very close.”
Loan four of five for Van Aanholt saw the full-back move to Wigan Athletic in 2011, which he recalls as one of the worst periods of his career both down to a lack of playing time and poor attitude from himself.
“One of the worst loans of my life, he added. “It was partly the manager, but a little bit me.
“Obviously when you go on loan from Chelsea you expect to play. At the time my mentality was wrong, I’m not going to lie. I thought, “F*** it, I’m not going to train (properly)”. I didn’t want to play in the reserves. It was the wrong attitude.
“I could have trained for myself, so when I got the chance I was ready. I didn’t do that. I was just training and going home. That was just a waste of time. That’s why Wigan is a closed book.”
Van Aanholt hits out at Chelsea loan system
Van Aanholt finally called time on his Chelsea career in 2014, after a talk with then-manager Jose Mourinho, which the Dutchman feels was the right move for his career.
The full-back was sent on his first loan away from Chelsea in 2009, joining Coventry, before spells at Newcastle United, Leicester City, Wigan and Vitesse Arnhem closed out his Blues career.
But the 28-year-old poked a hole in Chelsea’s loan system, claiming they kept sending him away for experience, with no end in sight.
“We had a nice conversation and I had a good feeling about that,” he added.
“But I think I made the right move to leave Chelsea behind. They kept sending me on loan to get more experience.
“How long does it take to become more experienced? In your head you’re thinking, ‘I need stability to prove myself in the Premier League’.”
In recent times, only Andreas Christensen and Ruben Loftus-Cheek appear to have got the better of the loan system at Chelsea, though both are currently fringe players under Maurizio Sarri.
Others, such as Romelu Lukaku, Kevin De Bruyne and Mohamed Salah have moved on to brighter things after being loaned out by Chelsea and have all come back to haunt their former club at some point.
QUIZ: Can you name every player Chelsea has out on loan this season?
Van Aanholt may have escaped the Chelsea loan system, but the Blues still have 40 players away this season. Test your knowledge with our Sporcle quiz, and let us know how you get on in the comments below or through Twitter @Squawka.
The post Chelsea loan nightmare almost made me quit football – Van Aanholt appeared first on Squawka News.
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