Forgotten England wonderkid who won World Cup with Foden wakes up unemployed after release from League Two strugglers
A FORMER Chelsea starlet that was tipped for the top after World Cup glory has found himself unemployed today.
George McEachran played alongside Phil Foden and Jadon Sancho for England at youth level.
And that star-studded squad beat Spain 5-2 back in 2017 to be crowned U17 world champions under future Nottingham Forest boss Steve Cooper’s tutelage.
McEachran, whose older brother Josh also came through the ranks at Chelsea before dropping into the lower leagues and is now at Oxford United, even achieved success with the Blues first-team.
The midfielder was on the bench for the West London club’s 2019 Europa League victory over Arsenal as he collected another medal to add to his collection.
He seemed destined for the very top as he headed to the Netherlands the following season Cambuur in the second tier for some regular senior football.
Despite only featuring twice in the league, he went Dutch again in the next campaign when joining MVV.
Both of those spells away failed to propel him into the Blues squad.
That led to him eventually being released by the Premier League giants after his contract expired in 2022 without making an appearance for the club he had been at since the age of nine.
Fortunately for him Jody Morris and Ed Brand, who both coached him in the Stamford Bridge academy, were at Swindon Town.
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And after months of being without a club, Robins boss Morris offered him the opportunity to revive his career in League Two in February 2023.
Morris said at the time: “He’ll bring quality. Just in the experience I had with him a few years ago, he’s played at a really good level, he’s won a World Cup for his country and represented England at different age groups.
“After his first training session, there were quite a few comments about what the players had just seen from him.
“He’s hungry at the moment. His career has stalled for whatever reason and he hasn’t quite hit the heights that he would be hoping for, but I quite liked how he was at the moment.
“He just wanted to get down to work and come and train – he messaged Ed (Brand) first and was asking about coming in. But with the restrictions around bringing someone in at this level, I think the club deserve a big pat on the back for getting someone in of the quality of George.
“Albeit, he has a lot to prove and he knows that – but he has a real opportunity here to show what he’s capable of.”
He made 16 appearances and impressed enough to earn a 12-month extension last summer but Morris was axed shortly afterwards.
McEachran remained a regular under new manager Michael Flynn, who was sacked in January, and current caretaker boss Gavin Gunning.
He played 39 matches in all competitions but was unable to stop Swindon from finishing a disappointing 19th in League Two.
And now they have announced that he is one of 11 players, including ex-Premier League men Charlie Austin and Rushian Hepburn-Murphy, that are being released once their deals expire next month.
A statement from Swindon read: “We would like to thank all the first-team players who will be leaving us upon the conclusion of the 2023/24 season, and we wish them all the very best in their future careers too.”