On May 8, Hupu, The Athletic UK wrote a column on Chelsea youth training.
In the Chelsea youth training camp, a promising new star forward named Shumaila, also known as "Shim" Mkhika, has only three opportunities left this season. He hopes to get the opportunity to play in the Premier League.
The players of the first team suffered a six-game losing streak and only scored one goal during this six-game losing streak. After that, they seemed to be looking forward to the end of the season more and more quickly. However, Mheka hoped to seize this last opportunity and show his strength in the top league.
There is a mystery that has always existed, and that is why he has not been able to get a chance to play in the first team. This 18-year-old youngster, in 2025 – In the 2026 season, he played for youth training teams at all levels, playing 30 times and contributing 25 goals and 4 assists. This includes representing the U21 youth team in the Premier League U21 league 19 times and scoring 18 goals; and representing the U19 youth team in the UEFA Youth League 6 times and scoring 5 goals.
He has been named captain more than 20 times, which is a testament to his maturity.
In view of this, to further highlight the reason why Mheka is regarded as a forward with great potential, he played 10 games for England U19 this season and scored 13 goals.
People familiar with the situation revealed to The Athletic on condition of anonymity that Mheka is the kind of player that makes coaches dream of him. The reason is that he is extremely focused and constantly strives to improve his skills.
It doesn't happen to him that he gets carried away by success – in fact, it's quite the opposite. Another source said that if Mheka did not score, he would have extremely strict requirements on himself. No matter how he performed in other aspects within 90 minutes, he would judge that his performance was not ideal.
This player in the youth team showed an extremely outstanding performance at the beginning of the season, and set a goal for himself, which is to reach 20 goals in the middle of the season.
As of the end of January, he had scored 19 goals.
Mkhika joined Chelsea from Brighton in 2022 for an initial transfer fee of 1 million pounds or US$1.4 million. It is obvious that he has not yet reached his peak condition. Last week's loss in the Premier League U23 playoffs against Tottenham Hotspur fully proved this. He performed very well in the first half and helped Chelsea take the lead with a wonderful shot. Although he also missed an easy scoring opportunity and hit the crossbar, Mkhika was nowhere to be seen in the second half. In the end, Tottenham 3 – 1 comeback to win.
Even so, during this season, the progressive and positive performance he has shown far outweighs the negative performance, and his data are completely enough to give him a chance to join the first team. However, even though Chelsea is in a sluggish state this season and suffers from constant injuries, this player who is active in the forward position has never been able to enter the Premier League's game roster.
However, this does not mean that he does not have opportunities to play at all. He came on as a substitute in the League Cup against Lincoln City, especially in the first leg of the semi-finals against Arsenal. His last appearance was in the FA Cup away game against Hull City three months ago. He was also on the substitute list for the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 at home against Paris Saint-Germain.
However, the total time he played was only 31 minutes. If this counts as a breakthrough year in his career, such specific data is barely acceptable. But last season, Mheka played 5 times on behalf of Chelsea, with a total of 128 minutes. And he also appeared as a starter in the match against Copenhagen in the UEFA Round of 16.
Considering his performance in the youth team, it is indeed puzzling that his playing time has declined instead of rising.
Chelsea's situation this season is really full of twists and turns. First, head coach Enzo Maresca left, and then within just three months, Liam Rossinier also left. In such an environment, there must be no way to provide opportunities for young players.
In addition, when Nicholas Jackson joined Bayern Munich on loan, Chelsea's decision to recall Marc Giu from Sunderland before the summer transfer window closed also had an impact on Mheka's performance.
Jiwu is only two years older than Mkhika, but his experience is still relatively shallow. In 2024, he joined Stamford Bridge for a price of 6 million euros, or 5.2 million pounds. Before that, he had only played 6 times on behalf of Barcelona. This season, he has played 16 times for Chelsea, totaling 630 minutes.
Giovanni is currently ranked third among the team's top scorers, behind top scorers Joao Pedro and Liam Delap. Since joining from Ipswich Town for 30 million pounds last summer, Delap's performance has been extremely disappointing. He has only scored 3 goals so far. However, few clubs are willing to let youth players replace him, which will lower and dampen the team's morale.
However, following Rossinier's dismissal last month, Callum McFarlane took over as interim head coach, which may be quite beneficial to Mkhika. McFarlane was in charge of Chelsea's U21 youth team before being promoted to the first-team coaching staff in January this year.
In Monday's game against Nottingham Forest, McFarlane arranged for another high-profile U21 player Jesse Derry to start. Indeed, Chelsea had four wingers unable to play due to injuries, but he still chose to give the young player a chance.
In addition, the attacker Pedro Neto is very likely to miss Saturday's away game against Liverpool, the attacker Alejandro Garnacho is also very likely to miss this game, the attacker Esteban William is also very likely to miss this game, and the attacker Jamie Gittens is still very likely to miss the game. Derry will also be missing, having left the pitch in the first half against Nottingham Forest with a concussion.
Perhaps he will consider the option of using Mheka as a substitute in attack. Given that Chelsea deployed five defenders, two defensive midfielders, and a backup goalkeeper (in addition to Delap) in the game against Nottingham Forest, they did have deficiencies in that direction.
Doing so will undoubtedly send a positive message to Mheka at a critical time. He has only one year left on the first professional contract he signed with the club in 2024, although the club has the option of extending it for another year.
People familiar with the situation told The Athletic anonymously that the club, as well as the players themselves, are relatively relaxed about the current situation. They will sit down and negotiate a longer-term contract extension, which may be as early as this summer.
Mheka has also been included in the loan plan for the 2026-27 season, with the aim of gaining more first-team experience. In January this year, the club had raised the possibility of loaning him out, but all parties agreed that it was best for him to stay in the youth academy and continue to score goals.
He is obviously a player with great potential. Perhaps Chelsea should arrange an opportunity for him to play in the remaining league games so that he can show his actual ability.