Elye Wahi was on the wrong end of a one-sided drubbing on Wednesday night, but the Lens forward still acquitted himself brilliantly well against Arsenal in the Champions League to remind Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly of what he missed out on in the summer.
The Blues saw a £24million bid for Wahi rejected by Montpellier, who eventually allowed the striker to sign for Lens in a £30m move. “I didn’t want to go [to Chelsea] just for the sake of it,” said the youngster after the window closed. “I don’t have any regrets.”
In the end, Chelsea snapped up Nicolas Jackson and Christopher Nkunku to compete for minutes up top. But the former has earned mixed reviews so far this season and the latter is yet to play a competitive match for the Londoners due to injury.
Against Arsenal; Wahi showed that, without doubt, he has the attributes to have made a significant impact at Stamford Bridge.
Still far from the finished article at 20 years old, the most eye-catching moments of Wahi’s performance at the Emirates came when he twice breezed past William Saliba – a player who has proven almost impossible to beat in one-on-one situations.
Lens were under the cosh for most of the night, with six different Arsenal stars etching their names onto the scoresheet in a resounding 6-0 win, but Wahi’s moments of electricity stuck out in a game which saw the visitors enjoy more of the ball and register three shots on target.
The France Under-21 international scored more Ligue 1 goals during his teenage years than Karim Benzema, who has gone on to win multiple Champions Leagues and a Ballon d’Or with Real Madrid.
In fact, only Wahi and Kylian Mbappe have reached 20 goals or more before their twentieth birthdays in the French top flight, putting the former Chelsea target in highly-esteemed company.
