Mario Pasalic reminded Chelsea’s scouts of Michael Ballack when they first went to watch the 18-year-old Croatian midfielder play for Hajduk Split in the 2013-2014 season, and that summer they paid £3 million for him, an offer too good for his club to resist. 

Asked who his favourite player was when he joined that day, Pasalic told the club’s in-house television channel that it was Frank Lampard, who left in that summer of 2014 and was replaced by Cesc Fabregas, an early indication of the challenges facing a teenager at Chelsea.  Pasalic is 24 now and has never played for Chelsea’s senior team in a competitive fixture, nor any of their junior teams, but his contract has twice been extended and he is secured until the summer of 2022. 

Like the Chelsea clubmates he barely knows, he will also be playing in the Champions League this week, against Manchester City for the upwardly mobile Serie A side Atalanta, with whom he is in his second year on loan.  He has played for five top-flight European clubs since he signed at Stamford Bridge, although none of them have been Chelsea.  At Elche in Spain, then at Monaco, AC Milan, Spartak Moscow and Atalanta each time he has played a decent number of games including 33 in the league last season as part of the team from Bergamo who finished third.  He has 10 caps for Croatia, and was on the bench for their draw with Wales this month.