Chelsea academy graduate Michael Mancienne says he has no regrets over leaving Chelsea six years ago, as he prepares to line up against the Blues for Nottingham Forest.
The 29-year-old centre-back was scouted for Chelsea at the age of nine and was in the Blues youth academy until 2006, when he signed his first professional contract with the club.
However, he didn’t make his competitive debut for Chelsea until 2009, when he started an FA Cup tie against Watford before then lining up in the Champions League against Juventus less than two weeks later.
Now gearing up to face his old club as Nottingham Forest visit Stamford Bridge in the Carabao Cup, Mancienne admits that it was a struggle breaking through at Chelsea:
I was in the comfort zone at Chelsea and it is easy for players to rot away in that environment,
When you’re at a big club you can easily get caught in a bubble because everything is done for you. There are so many people doing things for you that when you go out on loan you’re thrown into real life.
Whilst on the books at Chelsea, Mancienne spent two seasons on loan at Queen’s Park Rangers before a spell of three seasons on loan to Wolverhampton Wanderers, for whom he made 60 appearances in all competitions.
Mancienne feels that the quality of players in the defensive ranks at Chelsea was too much for him to compete with as a youngster, and is pleased he made a move away from the club:
I was 21 when I made my debut and it was great moment. I thought it would be the time when I kicked on but there were too many players in front of me, many of them captains for their countries.
I had to make a decision because I wanted to make a name for myself and play games.
Mancienne left Chelsea in 2011 for German club Hamburg and spent three seasons there, making 55 appearances for the German club before moving to current club Nottingham Forest. He speaks highly of his time abroad — not something many English players experience:
I would recommend it to anyone, I loved it abroad and you learn a lot about yourself. It makes you stronger, being away from your family and friends.
In the first year I struggled with the language…I learned more from being around the boys in the dressing room and I managed to pick it up that way
The big thing I noticed in Germany is that teams would rather push through a youngster with potential than make a signing. That is why their national team does so well and, maybe, why England doesn’t. I will never regret the decision to play there.
Mancienne made his return to English football in 2014, and has now made over 100 appearances for the club.
The 2008-09 Chelsea Young Player of the Year could start at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night when Forest come to town for the Carabao Cup third round.
