Emma Hayes says that new signing Alsu Abdullina will do everything in her power to succeed at Chelsea.
The 20-year-old Russian international left-back agreed a move to Kingsmeadow last month and she has only recently linked-up with her new teammates for the first time.
Abdullina impressed in the Russian Women’s Football Championship with former club Lokomotiv Moscow and she will now look to rise up to the challenge of Barclays FA Women’s Super League football with Chelsea.
When speaking to FAWSL Full-Time on Friday, Chelsea boss Hayes said that Abdullina is a self-driven character and that she will do everything in her power to succeed in her time with The Blues.
“What I will say about Alsu is that she left home at 14 to go and play football in Moscow,” Hayes said. “She is hardened to getting to where she wants to go, she is a tough kid and she knows what she wants. I know for sure that she will give it everything that she can to fulfil her potential, I know that Russia think very highly of her and I know that we have been watching her for a long time.
“There are not a lot of left-sided options anywhere in the world so we are really grateful to have her and I am going to try and work on my Russian too, we don’t want it to be all one way, we want to try and help her out while she’s here.”
With Abdullina being new to the English game, Hayes went on to say that the move to London was a lot for the youngster to take in. She hinted that Abdullina could be bedded into action carefully just like she has done with other young players.
Hayes said “First of all, she is 20 years of age, she doesn’t speak English and she has just moved here. How overwhelming that is for any person to move to a country where you don’t speak the language. She is learning English every day, she has got a great appetite for learning and she has got a fantastic left foot. She’s 20 years of age and she has got huge talent.
“She was excellent in training today, that was her best session but she has got to get used to the intensity of it, that’s what the challenge is for any players coming in – if you have played in a different league, the intensity of our training sessions and our league…often it takes players six months to a year to adjust. I know that fans are like ‘you’ve signed a player but why aren’t they playing?’ but their bodies don’t always cope with the training load and games, it takes a period of adaptation to get to that.”
There has been no opportunity to see whether Abdullina will go straight into a matchday squad with both of Chelsea’s matches in 2022 having been postponed. The Blues are set to resume their season at West Ham United in the FA Women’s Continental League Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday.
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