Tahith Chong was a surprise name on Manchester United’s pre-season tour. It’s possible he only got the call because of Cristiano Ronaldo’s late decision not to go.
The Dutch winger managed to get some game time, even forcing an own goal in a win over Melbourne Victory, before starting the friendly at Old Trafford against Rayo Vallecano.
But once the season proper came around, Chong was not included in the matchday squads, and rightly so. He just hadn’t progressed to the level Manchester United require him to be.
The winger made his exit on transfer deadline day in a £1.5 million permanent move to Birmingham City.
Chong says he had to leave
Chong spent last season on loan at Birmingham City in the Championship, before his promising spell at the club was interrupted by injury.
Birmingham saw enough to want him back, and he went straight into their starting XI last weekend, days after his return.
The 22-year-old has been speaking about his departure from Manchester United and accepts it was simply time to move on, feeling he would not learn or progress if he stayed put.
He told Birmingham Live: “It’s one of the biggest clubs in the world but eventually you have to look at yourself as well in terms of your career, what you want to achieve. For me I got to the stage I am at an age where I want to play games.
“As a player you develop when you play games, you develop to an extent when you are training every day but at the end of the day your bread and butter is going to be games. If you are not getting that or you play once and then not again for four or five weeks, sometimes that’s not enough.”
“It was a logical decision if I am not going to get game time here I need to get game time somewhere else. In terms of my career, you have goals and stuff you want to achieve and to do that you have to play games.
“I did the pre-season with United and speaking to my family, United themselves, I felt I wanted to get to a stage where I do that, you want to perform week in week out and keep developing as a player. We felt this was the right thing to do.”
Chong also said there was interest from other clubs but Birmingham City were always front runners after his spell there last season, and with manager Lee Bowyer still in charge.
United had high hopes for Chong after signing him as a teenager from Feyenoord, but the bar at Manchester United is high, and very few academy players make it as first team regulars at Old Trafford.
Chong’s task now is to ensure he has a long and successful career in the sport away from United, and a successful first season at Birmingham is going to be key to his chances. He will hope to prove to himself that he chose wisely.
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