The transfer window has closed and Man City look to be the winners of the market. Chelsea, on the other hand, failed miserably. Bringing in three big name signings, two moderately unknown squad players (one of which has been sent out on loan) and five youth players (three of them loaned out). The big name signings weren’t an act of ambition, though, they were all replacements (note – Cech, Cuardrado, Luis).
Many Chelsea fans were expecting big things, a new central defender and a new midfielder were top of the priority list, however, those were overlooked. There’s been a lot of discussion as to whether Chelsea went about the window in completely the wrong way which resulted in panic buys, or whether it was planned all along with the idea of nurturing the incredible talent in the academy.
This season is probably the best opportunity for the likes of Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Kenedy and Bertrand Traore. With a relatively small squad and the vigorous calender ahead, it would come as a surprise if the youngsters at Chelsea’s disposal didn’t get opportunities, even under Mourinho. The Portuguese manager has somewhat a reputation shying away from using academy products, however, I get the impression this season may be different.
Three games into the season and we’ve already had a taste of Loftus-Cheek and Kenedy and it should be noted that Mourinho was impressed with what he saw. Speaking to the official Chelsea website Mourinho said:
This is about the young players working and coming in and using the opportunities they have to improve and show their qualities. I have beautiful young eggs in Kenedy, in Ruben and in Zouma. If you look at the game all of these young eggs did well. Zouma – great personality, great game. Kenedy changed the game and gave a different intensity and a different quality. Ruben was fine too. I’m not saying they are ready and they can be consistent and play every game. I am saying these young guys have good talent. Zouma with the experience of the last season has reached a fantastic level for a 20-year-old. Kenedy and Ruben, these kinds of boys, are players with very good talent.
With Chelsea competing in four separate competitions, chances will be there, it’s just whether the youngsters impress. It’s common knowledge that the blues have started the season poorly and with Mourinho recently warning his players about their form, it wouldn’t be surprising if some of these youngsters received more minutes. This famous quote by Albert Einstein sums up my analogy.
Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results
It would be insane if Jose continued to play the likes of Fabregas and Ivanovic and so on, if they’re not performing. Would he be so generous to the youngsters? Definitely not. If Chelsea’s stars don’t buck their ideas up, they’ll soon be replaced to show them they’re not irreplaceable. Only the other day it was confirmed that Kenedy, Loftus-Cheek and Bertrand Traore were included in Chelsea’s Champions League squad. It’s not just these three though that are verging on first team opportunities this season, Charley Musonda was kept at Stamford Bridge instead of going on loan and so was Ola Aina, both of whom look like men against boys when playing in the under 21’s league.
These youngsters haven’t just come from nowhere, no, these are some of the best players in the world in their respective age groups. Players who were vital to Chelsea’s youth team winning the UEFA Youth League last season and the numerous youth cups over the years. If teams like Bayern Munich and Barcelona can introduce their youth starlets into the first team then why can’t Chelsea? It’s not as if they’re of better quality, Chelsea have it in abundance.
This summer saw the likes of Lewis Baker, Dominic Solanke and Izzy Brown depart on loan to Vitesse, all of which will be looking to gain vital first team experience. Jeremie Boga traveled back to France to sign on loan for Rennes and Danish centre-back Andreas Christensen is on a two-year loan spell at Borussia Mönchengladbach as well. Yet still there’s Charley Musonda, Ola Aina, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Jay Da Silva, Charlie Colkett, Tammy Abraham, Jake Clarke-Salter and many others still in the London-based sides academy.
It was even suggested that Roman Abramovich had purposely refused Jose Mourinho big name signings in order to force his hand at inducting youth products into the first team. Maybe this is actually genuis by Chelsea, I mean, in two years time we could have heard Kenedy in the same sentence as a £60m transfer fee, similar to Neymar. Think of the money the blues will have saved by getting him now if he develops into the ‘next big thing’. The same could be said for Loftus-Cheek, in two years time he could be as good as the likes of Paul Pogba. It’s not impossible to imagine, given the game time, that these kids could be world-class and potentially save the club around £100m.
Only time will tell of course, but this season is definitely the season to impress, as it’s likely that if Chelsea’s problems aren’t solved by next summer, possibly even as early as January, that the gaps will be filled by expensive purchases. With John Terry being the last proper first team player to come from Chelsea’s academy, along with the reported £8m investment in the clubs academy each year, it’s time they started reaping the rewards from such a hefty investment.
