Jonathan Panzo: It was my dream to make it at Chelsea

The youngster also revealed that when he trained with AS Monaco's first team, he was not ready.

The ongoing pandemic sent shockwaves through the footballing world as it abruptly put an end to any action on the pitch all over the world. For Jonathan Panzo, the news came as much more than a shocker.

The England U21 International who was on loan at Belgian side Cercle Brugge had to pack his bags and head home safely at the earliest. “My main worry was just getting back home,” the Monaco defender told The Independent. “A few days after I got back, we got told the club doctor had tested positive for the virus and we all had to isolate. Then when Callum [Hudson-Odoi] got it, I was a bit scared, when it’s someone close to you, it all feels very real.”

A few weeks later, amid the tragedy that’s now all too familiar, the pandemic brought an “upsetting and frustrating” end to Panzo’s first full season in senior football. Not only did it cut short his time in Bruges, with belongings left behind and goodbyes still to tell, but it also halted a surge of momentum he’d built after an occasionally juddering start to life abroad.

Jonathan Panzo was part of the England U-17 side that emerged victorious in the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup held in India. The defender showed great promise with the National Team as well as with the Chelsea youth team that went on to win the FA Youth Cup. The youngster, who was well known within the academy as a good ball-playing centre back and was expected to don the senior colors in a few years’ time, chose to step out of the youth setup and forced a move to Monaco in 2018, with the hope of clocking a few minutes on the pitch.

“It was difficult to see a pathway back then,” Jonathan Panzo said. “It was my dream to make it at Chelsea and it’s a bit of a disappointment. But I thought it was better to go somewhere else, get some experience, and then hopefully come back to the Premier League.”

But while Jonathan Panzo took the contrast in his stride – between a south London estate and the glittering luxury of Monaco – he acknowledges there was a culture shock in translating his talent onto the pitch. “Obviously, my expectation was to play in the first team [when I joined Monaco], or at least have a better chance than at Chelsea. I knew Monaco produce a lot of players, but I was a bit young,” he says, still just 17 years old at the time. “I trained with the first team and, I’ll be honest, I wasn’t ready.”

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The glint of training alongside Cesc Fabregas and Radamel Falcao began to fade, and Jonathan Panzo found himself fighting for another breakthrough from the academy. “It was hard at the time because you feel like you’ve gone backwards,” he revealed. “Throughout my youth career, I was always playing up age-groups, so it’s difficult. I thought when I was with the academy I was doing enough to get back into the first team, but obviously I have to be patient and, as I improve, push to get back there.”

Unlike his U-17 World Cup winning teammate Jadon Sancho – who also forced a move away from England, Jonathan Panzo didn’t manage to get off on the right foot at Monaco. “It was hard at the time because you feel like you’ve gone backwards,” he said. “Throughout my youth career, I was always playing up age-groups, so it’s difficult. I thought when I was with the academy I was doing enough to get back into the first team, but obviously I have to be patient and, as I improve, push to get back there,” he added.

There’s an air of mystery and what-ifs surrounding Jonathan Panzo since Frank Lampard opened the floodgates on Chelsea’s academy, particularly being such a heartbeat within Jody Morris’s quadruple-winning U18 side. Having only turned 19 last October, he understands why some might claim he’s rushed at times, but is adamant that he has “no regrets” over the decision to go abroad. And at Brugge, a baptism of fire in the depths of a relegation battle has seen him gain the consistent playing time he craved, a call-up from Aidy Boothroyd, and allowed him to harness newfound maturity and independence on and off the pitch.

After years of such relentless success at Chelsea, where his rise often felt unstoppable, a trying period has also armed Panzo with an ability to stand firm in the face of adversity – a trait he’s been forced to develop since childhood, moving between estates in Brockley and Crystal Palace before settling in Surrey after joining Chelsea. “Where I grew up, it was a bit hard, not the best of areas,” the youngster quipped. “Bad things did happen but most places are like that. I wasn’t naughty but I used to get in trouble for silly things, play fighting. I loved WWE – my friends used to call me Booker T – that was actually my thing a lot more than football,” he went on saying.

“Back then, I used to think I’d never leave and since then it feels like I’ve moved a hundred times, and now I’m in a different country. If I spoke to a French person now, I don’t think they’d know I was English.”

During the lockdown, the days in London have blurred into weeks of monotony. It’s not quite the homecoming Panzo dreamed of, but an excitable determination bleeds into his voice when speaking about possibilities beyond the pandemic. “Staying positive is key for me,” Jonathan Panzo said. “Even when it’s hard and you might not be in the team… It’s normal not be happy sometimes but, for me, that’s just my character. If I’m not positive, I don’t play well."

“I’d always want to come back to England. I wanted to get as many minutes as possible and then come back to the Premier League. Everyone’s got their own path and going away from home has been a good experience for me. This pre-season, I’m going to go back [ to Monaco] and show what I can do.”