Chelsea youngsters Lucas Bergstöm and Harvey Vale have returned to the club after their loans at Peterborough United and Hull City, respectively, were cut short this month.
Bergstöm had a decent spell at Peterborough, starting in goal for the first 21 matches of their League One (third tier) season, but had lost his place recently to new arrival Will Norris, who was signed on loan from Burnley specifically for adding “experience” as well. That’s no slight on the 20-year-old Bergström, who had conceded just 27 times in 21 games, with 5 clean sheets. The Posh are pushing for promotion back to the Championship and evidently wanted an old(er) man between the sticks. Whatever.
This was the first loan of Bergström’s young career, and presumably we will find him a new assignment for the second half of the season.
We can confirm that Lucas Bergström has been recalled by parent club Chelsea.
We would like to thank Lucas for all his efforts on behalf of the football club and wish him well for the future. #pufc
— Peterborough United (@theposh) January 17, 2023
In somewhat related news, young Harvey Vale has also returned to Chelsea, though his time at Hull City was not one to remember. He played just 137 minutes total across three appearances, and under two different managers.
Unfortunately for Vale, because he had also played for Chelsea in the EFL Trophy at the start of the season, he’s not eligible to go out on loan again this season. (We count the EFL Trophy as an U23 competition, but FIFA rules consider it a “senior” competition.)
Harvey Vale and Lucas Bergström back at Chelsea from their loans. Vale cannot play for another club in the 22-23 season. Bergström can, but there are reasons Chelsea might want to keep him around if it’s best for his development plan.
— Chelsea Youth (@chelseayouth) January 16, 2023
So Vale will stick around the Development Squad and hopefully get some training (and maybe even minutes) with the senior team. He made 5 appearances last season for the first-team already, all in the domestic cups, so perhaps we can hope for a Premier League debut for the promising and versatile midfielder.