It was a “dream come true” for young Jesse Derry to make his full senior professional debut last night as Chelsea took on Nottingham Forest at Stamford Bridge. The 18-year-old had been starring all season for our under-21 team, and he was getting his right reward to play from the start, with Pedro Neto, Alejandro Garnacho, and Jamie Gittens all missing through injury. In fact, Derry was the only recognized winger in the matchday squad.
But, as we’ve come to expect from Cobham’s best, he was not cowed
by the occasion. In fact, he was our brightest spark and our most positive, creative attacking outlet. And had Cole Palmer converted the penalty that was awarded after Derry was taken out in the box late in the first half, maybe the result of the match would’ve turned out better, too.
Unfortunately, the foul suffered by the youngster was a very nasty one indeed. He lay motionless on the turf as players frantically motioned for the medical team to come on. Many minutes later, he would be stretchered off, with an oxygen mask, a neck brace, and a worried round of applause from all.
Thankfully, an update from the club after the match confirmed that Jesse was “conscious, talking and undergoing precautionary checks” at hospital. Presumably he would stay there for observation at least overnight.
This morning, Derry gave a brief update on social media as well. Though he didn’t say anything specific about his condition, he sounded positive about the overall prognosis.
“A dream come true to start at Stamford Bridge for my Premier League debut.
“I’d like to thank all the Chelsea medical staff, everyone at St Mary’s Hospital, my teammates, and all the fans for their great support. I can’t wait to be back playing in front of everyone very soon.”
-Jesse Derry; source: Instagram
Head and neck injuries are no joke and while the sport has gotten a lot better about recognizing the importance of treating them with proper care, there is still often a notion associated with them that they are not as serious as all the various strains, sprains, and tears. So hopefully we ensure that Derry only returns to action once he’s properly healed and recovered.
And same goes for Robert Sánchez as well, who was taken off in the second half after a clash of heads with Morgan Gibbs-White. Both players would show off some nasty scars and stitches on social media afterwards — however, since neither was taken off officially as a “concussion sub”, they apparently don’t have to stick to the official concussion protocol of the Premier League? That’s not ideal, but I’d hope that our medical team will still follow all the necessary steps before clearing Rob to return to action. You’d think that if there’s one position at this club historically where we would treat head injuries properly, it’s surely at goalkeeper.
