‘Wonderkid’ Rak-Sakyi makes EPL debut for Crystal Palace against Chelsea

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The English-born youngster of Ghanaian descent made his Premier League bow against his former club as they left Stamford Bridge with a defeat

England young midfielder with Ghanaian descent Jesurun Rak-Sakyi made his English Premier League on Saturday for Crystal Palace when they lost 3-0 to Chelsea at the Stamford Bridge.

The 18-year-old, who actually started his career with Chelsea before joining Palace in 2018, was handed his maiden appearance in the Premier League by new coach Patrick Vieira.

Rak-Sakyi came on by the 76th minute for Dutch defender Jairo Riedewald as Palace were already down by three goals.

Goals from Marcos Alonso, Christian Pulisic and Trevoh Chalobah did the damage for the Blues who were playing in front of their fans for the first time since mid last year.

The youngster took inspirations from his countrymen Jordan Ayew and Jeffrey Schlupp who started the game but he could do little to save them from an embarrassing situation.

Palace coach Vieira was full of praise of Rak-Sakyi and believes he will come good in future.

“He’s a kid who spent pre-season with us and I was really pleased with what he’s been doing on the field,” Vieira told the club’s website.

“He’s a really lovely kid and when he came on at 3-0 I just wanted him to get on the ball. He’s a good dribbler, can score goals as well so I wanted him to be a bit more high on the field, but he spent most of the time behind the ball defending. The quality of Chelsea made it really difficult for us to get on the ball. He’s a young, talented player and we have to work with him to try to help him,” he added.

Rak-Sakyi is still eligible to represent Ghana at the international level despite playing for England at the youth stage.

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