Chelsea midfielder Lewis Hall was given a shock start in the 5-1 win over Chesterfield in the FA Cup third round yesterday afternoon.
The 17-year-old was not overawed by the occasion, though, as he confidently slotted into a somewhat unfamiliar role at left-sided centre-back.
Supporters on Twitter were very impressed by what they saw of Hall, with many feeling that the teenager has a very bright future ahead of him in the game:
Academy strikes again
— Greg. (@gregdashsoul) January 8, 2022
the future🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽💙
— Arafat (@Arafat_kendrick) January 8, 2022
Class debut. Composed, quality in the tackle and positionally sounds. Really hope we see him again
— T (@titchy94) January 9, 2022
Star boy 🤴
— Maxwel Ujunwa 👑 (@maxwelujunwa) January 8, 2022
Very solid from the young man today , great to see we have back up in the area for the rest of the season. Would love to see him play a few prem games too!
— Jamie.brownnn (@BrownnnJamie) January 8, 2022
🐐🐐
— ↗️Wail (@W_O_W_66) January 9, 2022
pic.twitter.com/kpKx3qog14
— Proper Chelsea (@ProperChelsea2) January 8, 2022
do they teach these youngsters how to get man of the match Performances at cobham;?…..cuz Mount, James and especially Gilmour constantly gets MOT… 😋
— Prince Jerboh (@jerboh_prince) January 9, 2022
While he, admittedly, didn’t have a lot of defending to do, Hall did manage to get forward quite regularly and got an assist just 20 minutes into his debut after setting up Romelu Lukaku to make it 3-0 on the day.
Like the fans, manager Thomas Tuchel was also keen not to play down Hall’s fantastic first senior appearance, and it’s likely we’ll see a lot more of the youngster in the coming months. The academy continues to produce some absolute gems.
