The 21-year-old joined Chelsea from Borussia Dortmund over the summer for a reported fee of £52 million, including add-ons. After a difficult start to life at Stamford Bridge, it’s starting to look like he’s turning a corner.
Four goal contributions in his last three games, including two assists and an absolute banger in Chelsea’s 4-3 League Cup win over Wolves, mean he is likely to be Enzo Maresca’s preferred choice, for a while at least.
A tricky start in a blue shirt
Gittens was seriously hampered by his lack of pre-season, like most of the Chelsea squad. Unlike Liam Delap and Joao Pedro, he wasn’t given the chance to feature in their Club World Cup campaign due to a 13-minute substitute appearance for Dortmund.
After reaching the final and of course going on to beat Champions League holders PSG 3-0 to earn that big, gaudy gold trophy, Chelsea didn’t report for pre-season until August 4th, under two weeks before their opening Premier League game.
Gittens was training at Cobham while Chelsea were on their way to lifting the trophy, but without his fellow first-teamers, it was nothing more than an opportunity to keep himself fit, waiting in the wings for his new teammates to return.
The £40 million signing of Alejandro Garnacho also threw a spanner in the works for Gittens. Garnacho has more experience in England than Gittens, and has started their previous three Premier League games, scoring his first for Chelsea in the 2-1 defeat to Sunderland.
That could have been different had Gittens taken the chances he was given at the start of the season, as a member of Man United’s infamous ‘bomb squad’ Garnacho had even less of a pre-season than Gittens, so the Englishman was given the nod in Chelsea’s first league game.
Gittens was largely ineffective, however, and was replaced by Estevao just after half-time. He was then relegated to the bench for the wins over West Ham and Fulham before being handed his second start against Brentford.
Again, he did nothing of note and was hooked after 56 minutes, ending the game having created just one chance, three touches in the opposition box, and generating a dismal xG of 0.01.
Getting confidence in cup competitions
Coming to the Premier League from the Bundesliga is hard, just ask Florian Wirtz and Xavi Simons, so Maresca, to his credit, has allowed for Gittens to get into the swing of things in Chelsea’s cup games rather than persisting to throw him in at the deep end.
Chelsea’s 2-1 win over Lincoln in the League Cup was arguably their worst performance of the season so far, and that’s saying something, but Gittens was a rare bright spark as his side were largely pinned back by their League One counterparts.
His next start came in the 5-1 win over Ajax and he ran the show. Not only did he provide the assist for Moises Caicedo, but he also created the most chances of anyone on the pitch (5), had seven touches in the opposition box, and had three successful dribbles.
Gittens also gave us the best moment of the game, controlling the ball with his back only to then be called offside.
And now, his performance against Wolves feels like a genuine break out moment for Gittens. If it wasn’t for him, Chelsea would have likely been eliminated by a side that is yet to win a Premier League game.
His goal was incredible, but what’s even better is what he said about it after the game.
"It felt really special to score my first goal for Chelsea and to win the game and get through to the next round was even better,” he told the club’s website.
"I just thought I would try and shoot because I was tired, and it went in off the post. There were lots of emotions in the celebrations."
"I love playing with everyone here - they’re so talented, and they understand the game. They are so intelligent, and they know what to do. Playing with them is like an honour."
He hit it because he was knackered. Fair play.
Verdict
With Cole Palmer still out with a groin injury, Chelsea are crying out for someone to take a chance and control the game. In the game against Wolves Gittens has proven he can do just that. All he needs to do now, is keep doing it. Easier said than done.