Coming from good footballing stock is no guarantee of a successful career in its own right, but it does provide a good foundation of what is required to make the grade.
This week, The Athletic watched the Premier League 2 top of the table clash between Manchester United under-21s and their Chelsea rivals at the Leigh Sports Village — and a second-generation talent caught the eye.
In the end, it was Chelsea who came out on top, and highly rated winger Jesse Derry, son of Sean Derry, played his part in an impressive display by the league leaders.
The player
Name: Jesse Derry
Club: Chelsea
Date of birth: June 30, 2007 (18)
Position: Winger/attacking midfielder
The back story
Jesse is the son of former Crystal Palace, Leeds United and Queens Park Rangers midfielder Shaun Derry, and was born in Harrogate when his father was playing for Leeds.
He joined Palace’s academy at the age of five and developed through the ranks.
He was named Palace’s under-18s player of the season in 2023-24 after scoring 16 goals in 22 appearances, but, as reported by The Athletic, he then decided to let his contract run out and joined Chelsea on a four-year contract last July.
As Simon Johnson reported, sources have told The Athletic that the two clubs agreed a fee in excess of £1million ($1.35m), therefore avoiding the need for the case to be decided by a tribunal.
Derry’s form earned England call-ups to the under-17s, under-18s, and under-19s. Last summer, he scored twice at the European Under-19 Championship, although England went out at the group stage.
His progress at Chelsea so far has been impressive, and he has been training with the first team under both Enzo Maresca and now Liam Rosenior.
He made his first team debut as a second-half substitute in Chelsea’s 4-0 FA Cup win over Hull City last month.
Although he plays mainly on the left flank, Derry is two-footed and can play on the right and in an attacking midfield role. This season, he has scored 11 goals and provided four assists in 25 appearances for the under-21s.
Derry is a life-long Chelsea fan. “I’ve followed Chelsea for as long as I can remember,” he told the club’s website. “To be part of the club is surreal. If I could go back and tell that boy in the picture how far we’ve come, I don’t think he’d believe it. I just want to keep living in the moment, working hard and never lose sight of the goal of playing for the men’s team one day.”
Jesse Derry developed at Crystal Palace (Ben Roberts Photo/Getty Images)
What we saw
As expected, Derry played on the left of Chelsea’s attack, but looked to come inside onto his right foot when he did get on the ball. However, it took Chelsea a bit of time to get going against United, especially after a five-minute delay for a head injury to United striker Chido Obi straight from the kick-off.
After that, it quickly became clear that Derry had forged a good understanding with two of his Chelsea team-mates, left-back Landon Emenalo and particularly midfielder Reggie Walsh. Derry played an excellent one-two with Walsh to set up Chelsea’s first attack and the pair combined frequently.
Derry was a good outlet throughout the game, and when invited to do so by the United back-four, he looked to attack right-back Louis Jackson at every opportunity.
Derry is one of the main set piece takers too, and went close with a free-kick that forced United keeper William Murdock into a fine save in the first half.
His lean and tall stature meant he wasn’t just the outlet for his outfield team-mates, goalkeeper Max Merrick frequently looked to pick out Derry with long, right-to-left passes when Chelsea decided to go more direct.
Chelsea were the more threatening side in the final third, and Derry was certainly involved in a lot of their best moments.
After a couple of cutbacks, he produced a cross that almost teed up Leo Cardoso, and then he combined with Walsh, who delivered the cross for Cardoso to head home the second goal deep into 14 minutes of stoppage time in the first half.
The only negative from Derry’s display in the first half was a booking for simulation when he went down too easily in the United box. There may have been some contact, but not enough for him to go down.
Having been 2-0 up at half-time, the second half was more about control for Chelsea, but Derry still looked to push forward, and he delivered some dangerous crosses into the box until he was replaced late in the game.
Based on this performance, it was easy to see why Derry is so highly thought of and why Chelsea handed him a four-year contract. He was composed in possession and worked hard to press the United defence. The foundations are certainly there for a productive first team player in the future if he continues his development.
Derry is enjoying a good start in Chelsea blue, just as he dreamed of doing when he was a boy.