Jamal Musiala’s rise at Bayern Munich continues to reflect what many at Chelsea still see as one of their biggest academy setbacks—losing the German-Nigerian prodigy before he could play a single senior match for the club.
Musiala, who has Nigerian heritage through his father and represents Germany internationally, joined Chelsea’s academy at a young age and was widely considered one of their top prospects.
But former Blues academy scout Chris Robinson, now head of recruitment at Southampton, revealed that Chelsea were never in full control of the situation.
“The first steal, in a sense, was Chelsea getting Jamal from under Southampton’s nose,” Robinson told Tribalfootball.com while discussing his new book The Scouting Game. “But his family were from Germany and there was always that feeling he might go back.”
Robinson explained that as Musiala turned 16 and top clubs began to circle, Chelsea were constrained by internal pay structures introduced to prevent escalating academy wage demands.
“Jamal was obviously offered more to go elsewhere,” he said. “You’re going to lose some players if you do that.”
Musiala’s exit in 2019, followed by Samuel Iling-Junior’s departure to Juventus, marked a frustrating period for Chelsea staff who had helped develop both players from childhood.
Robinson noted that despite Chelsea’s dominant academy output—producing the likes of Reece James, Mason Mount, and Marc Guehi—managerial decisions and financial policies meant talents like Musiala were never truly given a path to the first team.
Now flourishing at Bayern and a mainstay in Germany’s national setup, Musiala remains a reminder of what Chelsea lost before he ever had the chance to step onto the senior stage in blue.
