Scouts at Chelsea are experts at spotting promising young footballers and developing them into some of the brightest prospects in Europe. However, we have also fallen foul of letting some exceptional talent walk out of Cobham, never to play in a Chelsea shirt again.
With four consecutive FA Youth Cup triumphs on the bounce, many Chelsea fans are questioning the lack of progress the youngsters are making when it comes to the first team.
Antonio Conte has previously questioned the patience of young players at Chelsea, suggesting they would get their chance in due time. However, if we look at the 2014-2015 FA Youth Cup winning side, there are no players who have made more than five first team appearances in competitive games for the Blues.
These players include Tammy Abraham, Dominic Solanke, Kasey Palmer and Ola Aina. All players have been labelled as some of the most exciting prospects in English football but have failed to make any real impact at the top level due to the restricted game time they have seen at Stamford Bridge.
Putting our feelings towards them to one side, you have to compliment Tottenham on their willingness to blood youth players into their first team. For example, we would love Lewis Baker to match what Dele Alli is doing at Spurs and one day cement himself as a first-team regular at Chelsea.
Although we would prefer it if he actually went on to win some silverware with us, something that can’t be said at Tottenham.
Some people at the football club will see the academy as a success. They think that making a £20 million profit on Nathan Ake is successful. I firmly believe that the reason for having an academy is to develop players for the betterment of your football club.
I couldn’t think of anything better than Ruben Loftus Cheek scoring the winner for Chelsea in a Champions League final. On the other hand, people at the club would pat each other on the back if they go on to sell Loftus-Cheek in a multi-million-pound transfer deal.
Us fans would love to see players from our academy go on to become club legends and put their names up alongside icons such as John Terry and Frank Lampard, creating history at our football club and having a bond with us like so many have done previously.
While I love seeing players such as Alvaro Morata come to Chelsea to push us to bigger and better things, it’s about time we use our academy and get the right blend of players.
We’ve seen players run out of patience in their search for game time at Chelsea, growing frustrated at their lack of progress, which inevitably ends up in them being shipped out on loan or sold permanently.
However, with players such as Loftus-Cheek, Abraham, Mason Mount and Baker all plying their trade out on loan, along with players such as Juan Castillo, Reece James and Ethan Ampadu still learning under development squad manager Jody Morris, the future looks bright for the young Blues as they hope to one day make a big splash in the Premier League
