Why Gent's Archie Brown isn't ready yet for West Ham and Chelsea

By Alessandro Schiavone in Charleroi

Charleroi 1-0 KAA Gent

Goal: Heymans

Archie Brown put in the kind of (incomplete) performance against Charleroi that showed why Chelsea and West Ham United have cooled their interest for now.

Still aged only 22, the English left-back took Belgian football by storm last season. But he is unquestionably still undercooked for our elite London clubs and it would be a surprise if the Blues or the big-spending Hammers picked up the phone and dialled his number by the 30 of August.

As things stand, Emerson Palmieri and Aaron Cresswell can be more relied upon at London Stadium while Brown can’t yet hold a candle to the Marc Cucurella version we admired at the Euros or a fully fit Ben Chilwell.

Strutting up and down the left flank at Stade du Pays de Charleroi, Brown, 22, has a swagger and an authority about him matched by few in the Jupiler Pro League.

Yet as philosopher Lucius Annaeus Seneca was once quoted as saying: “If a man knows not to which port he sails no wind is favourable”. This can easily be applied to the 22-year-old Birmingham-born Englishman who is often in two minds with the ball in his feet. And looks insecure at best, not knowing when to speed things up and when to slow down. His reading of the game's key moments demonstrate a lack of experience.

In fairness to Brown who likes to initiate attacks from deeper positions before playing a one-two and making an overlapping run... some imprecision in his passing and crossing were the order of the day yesterday. He attacks with speed but often lacks sharpness and focus, with his inaccuracy regularly denting Gent’s attempts to take the game to Charleroi. It was almost as if he attacked with the handbroke on.

Yet despite not producing the fireworks going forward, unlike his idol Ashley Cole used to do in his heyday, he shone defensively thanks to his physicality.

Late on he crucially intercepted Heyman’s pass for Parfait Guiagon and there was nothing he could do in the dying minutes to stop the former from scoring after the ball fortuitously ricocheted in his path. But just when Gent needed his audacity down the left wing, he let an offensive timidity creep into his game after the interval, almost as if the sloppy mistakes were still preying in his mind. Despite his undoubted potential, it’s glaringly obvious that he has work to do to reach the heights many envisaged for him a few months ago. But with hard work he'll get there.

For now it's highly recommended that Chelsea, but even West Ham, play the waiting game and see how far he comes this season and whether he irons out thise imperfections which threaten to eclipse his many positives.