Forgotten Chelsea star who played just 18 Premier League minutes inspiring unlikely title charge to thwart Mbappe
FORMER Chelsea winger Jeremie Boga is now inspiring his team to a Ligue 1 title push.
Boga, 26, joined Chelsea‘s academy at the age of 11 in 2008 and climbed the ranks before signing his first professional contract seven years later.
He was part of a ‘golden generation’ of young talents at Stamford Bridge with the likes of Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Fikayo Tomori and Tammy Abraham.
But while his team-mates broke into the senior team, Boga struggled for game time.
The winger was loaned to Stade Rennais in 2015 to gain first team experience and went on to make 31 appearances.
However, upon his return to West London he struggled to break into the first team again and was subsequently sent on another season-long loan, this time to Granada.
Following the conclusion of his second loan spell, Boga was handed his first team and Premier League debut for Chelsea.
He started the opening game of the 2017-18 season against Burnley, but his debut was cut short when he was substituted in the 18th minute after Gary Cahill‘s early red card.
And just a few weeks later, the winger was loaned out once again to Birmingham.
Boga eventually joined Sassuolo in a £3.5million transfer and spent four years at the Mapei Stadium before joining Atalanta.
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And this summer he completed a £15.6m transfer to Ligue 1 side OGC Nice.
The Eaglets have been the unlikely team of the season so far.
They currently LEAD the Ligue 1 table ahead of Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco.
And they are yet to lose a match this season.
Boga has been involved in three of his team’s last five goals.
He scored the opening goal on Sunday as Nice continued their unbeaten run with a 2-0 win over Rennes.
They are now set to face 13th-placed Montpellier on Friday.