Charly Musonda
From TheChels.info - The Chelsea Football Club Wiki
| Charly Musonda | |
| |
| Full Name | Charles Musonda Junior |
| Date of Birth | 15 October 1996 |
| Place of Birth | Brussels, Belgium |
| Position | Attacking Midfielder |
| Chelsea career | 2012- |
| Debut | 6 August 2017 |
| Games (goals) | 5 (1) |
| Other clubs | RSC Anderlecht Real Betis (loan) Celtic (loan) Vitesse Arnhem (loan) |
Charly Musonda is a midfielder currently playing for Chelsea.
Contents |
Pre-Chelsea career
Charly grew up at Anderlecht, the club of his father Charly Musonda Sr. He is the youngest of three footballing brothers, with both Lamisha Musonda and Tika Musonda making their way through the club's ranks.
Chelsea career
Charly moved to England with his two brothers when Chelsea expressed a determined interest in signing him. Father Charly Sr had previously told both Barcelona and Manchester City that if they wanted to sign the youngest Musonda, they had to accomodate the others in a package deal, but neither party was prepared to.
Chelsea were, and they concluded the deal in June 2012. Charly made his competitive debut in the first leg of the FA Youth Cup Final against Norwich City. He immediately became a regular feature once eligible as a first-year scholar and was quick to make appearances at Under-19 and Under-21 levels too, earning praise for his mature approach and sensational individual skill. A mid-season injury tempered his short-term development to a degree but he returned to the fold at the right time to play influential roles in both the FA Youth Cup and Under-21 Premier League successes; scoring goals in both finals.
2014-15 saw him take his game to the next level and on the bigger stages; he was integral to retaining the FA Youth Cup and even better in helping to clinch a maiden UEFA Youth League trophy, and added more goals, assists and substance to his game. He earned Under-21 international honours midway through the season and joined the first team squad on a post-season tour of Thailand and Australia. He also signed a new long-term deal tying him to Chelsea until the end of the 2018-19 season.
Starting the season in the Under-21s, he quickly reminded everyone of his undoubted talents with a scintillating opening day performance and assist at Liverpool and it became increasingly evident that he was in need of a loan move. That came in January, when he agreed a six-month deal with Real Betis with the option to extend it for another full season if it went well. That it did as he was named Man of the Match on his debut against Gary Neville's Valencia and proceeded to put in several eye-catching displays at the Andalucian club.
Betis duly triggered their option to keep him around but new manager Gustavo Poyet didn't fancy him quite as much as his former manager, eventually losing his job as Betis toiled. Musonda's playing time dwindled and he returned to Chelsea at Christmas 2016, suffering several injuries in the second half of the season and only playing three times for the Development Squad. He remained at Chelsea for the following twelve months, earning several first-team opportunities and scoring his first goal for the club against Nottingham Forest in the League Cup, but went back on loan in January 2018 and joined Celtic on an eighteen-month deal. Despite starting off promisingly, his playing time quickly disappeared, and the deal was cut short at the end of the campaign.
A move to Vitesse eventually followed in time for the 2018-19 season, but a serious injury restricted him to just 14 minutes of football. Attempting to restart his career back in the Netherlands in 2019-20, he lasted just 65 minutes across three more sub appearances before injury ended his season once more.
International
Charly has been capped by Belgium at every age level up to Under-21, where he debuted during the 2014-15 season and scored his first Under-21 goal against Norway in November 2014.
Career statistics
Youth and Development Football
| Season | Under-18 | Euro U19 | Dev Squad | Total | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |
| 2012-13 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 2013-14 | 22 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 10 | 1 | 34 | 6 |
| 2014-15 | 13 | 1 | 7 | 3 | 21 | 4 | 41 | 8 |
| 2015-16 | - | - | - | - | 14 | 2 | 14 | 2 |
| 2016-17 | - | - | - | - | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| 2017-18 | - | - | - | - | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3 |
| 2018-19 | - | - | - | - | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| 2021-22 | - | - | - | - | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| Total | 38 | 6 | 9 | 3 | 58 | 13 | 105 | 22 |
Senior Club Football
Statistics
| Season | Club | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Other | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| 2016-17 | Real Betis (loan) | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 2017-18 | Chelsea | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 |
| 2017-18 | Celtic (loan) | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 2018-19 | Vitesse Arnhem (loan) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2019-20 | Vitesse Arnhem (loan) | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Total | 18 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 1 | |
(Statistics accurate as of the start of the 2019-20 season)
Goals
| # | Season | Date | Year | Competition | Opponent | Score | Result | Venue |
| 1 | 2017-18 | 20 September | 2017 | League Cup | Nottingham Forest | 3-0 | 5-1 | Stamford Bridge |
Career honours
Contract
Charly signed a new contract in December 2017 which takes him through until the end of the 2021-22 season. 1
