Izzy Brown: A Chelsea Academy Star with a Big Shot at Making the Grade

Chelsea youngster Izzy Brown doesn’t duck the question.

“This move needs to make me a man,” he says with a grin. “The Championship is a man’s game. I’ve got a big scar down my leg from today’s game, but it’s normal. You just have to man up and deal with it and face the challenge the Championship brings.”

One of the most promising of the Chelsea’s many up-and-coming stars, the midfielder is currently on loan with Rotherham United. This isn’t a move to pamper him and massage his ego; there’s much more to it than that. As Brown says, he’s attempting to bridge the gap from youth-team star to first-team regular.

It’s a difficult challenge and one that’s growing ever more difficult for young players all across Europe. The level of competition is intensifying, and bigger transfer budgets are allowing clubs to sign ready-made talent to ensure they maintain success.

Away from his parent club, Brown understands the task he faces. His instant reaction to our question speaks of a young man who is ditching the first part of that adjective. It’s showing in his performances, and as Bleacher Report learned during a meeting with him at Craven Cottage after Rotherham’s mid-December trip to west London to face Fulham, we’re seeing it firsthand.

We’ve come here not just to speak with the player but to play the role of scout. We want to see how Brown’s adapting to the senior game and whether he is breaking free from the shackles of development football.

It’s not just about performances on the pitch, either. As we speak to Brown, sitting pitchside in the historic Johnny Haynes Stand, he knows all too well that he is having to perform to a certain degree. We’re probing for signs of his development, how he handles the other side of being a professional footballer. He doesn’t disappoint; Brown’s engaged and considers his answers when the moment calls for it. He has strong opinions on how he wants to play but also understands how he must adapt to achieve that goal.

But is he becoming a man?

 

Maturity

It’s one thing to be a talented player. It’s quite another to make that talent work by understanding how to apply yourself. The Premier League has its share of players who have failed to realise their potential as professionals by simply not applying themselves enough.

As a young player coming through, relying solely on ability can work to a point, but it only gets you so far. The best, most successful players are those who demonstrate a maturity to study their game and spot where the improvements are needed.

Leaving work at work doesn’t cut it; success is followed by a desire to hone your craft. Brown’s loan spells with Vitesse Arnhem and now Rotherham are showing he’s capable of that. Indeed, he’s already putting those principles into practice.

“When I first left home I was only 14 as I moved to Birmingham to play for West Brom,” he says to Bleacher Report, explaining how joining Vitesse last season, still only 18, didn’t carry the same fears it may for others of the same age.

“I left my friends and my family back then, so being away from home and in another country didn’t really bother me too much.”

It was a different challenge that he had to overcome: not playing matches.

“I was out of the Vitesse side for a couple of months, and that’s when it really hits you,” he adds. “You’re by yourself in another country and you’re not playing. It’s when you’re playing that you’re most happy, and obviously that was happening to me. It was a hard experience. It was something that I found hard to take as I’m not used to not playing.

“When that happened, I didn’t know what to do. I lost my way a little bit and didn’t work as hard in training. The manager sat me down and told me I needed to work harder and apply myself every day. That’s what I did, and I eventually got back in the team.”

Fast-forward to the present, Brown’s Vitesse experience has helped him in the Championship with Rotherham. On the back of Alan Stubbs being sacked as manager earlier in the campaign, Brown was benched as caretaker boss Paul Warne looked for ways to kick-start the team’s season.

“Alan Stubbs played me every game. I signed here on the Thursday and was playing on the Saturday. He said to me, ‘You’re going to come here and you’re going to play.’ I was so happy as I needed to get a full season and play games.

“When he got sacked and the new manager came in, he dropped me straight away. I just thought, ‘OK,’ because in Holland I …

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