EskWeston

Stoke can be a tricky team to play. But hopefully we can keep up our level of possesion and chances up.

Good to see Hiddink back around the place. Would be good to see him have some sort of involvement with us in the future as well

A couple of injuries hampered him, but he just hasn't really kicked on to the next level. Practically missed out the reserves altogether, only playing a couple of games.

Could somone move this to the reserves and youth section so i can merge it with the Taiwo loan discussion thread.... It wouldn't suprise me to see Taiwo make a permenant move at the end of this season, i certainly don't think we will be seeing him play for Chelsea.

I like Jack Cork very much, and i think he is a little unlucky to not be given a go in the first team this season. I am sure he will make it though because he is a very level headed young man with a lot of ability.

It is ludicrous to even consider likening this to child trafficking.... FIFA are a useless and corrupt organisation and they are going to be made to look like fools over this...

Cummings, Sarelma and Furman are not longer with the club. But Cummings and Furman have gone on to decent levels, no idea where Sarelma is though.... This is a key point because only a very small percentage will make it to our first team, and the aim is to get the rest at as high a level as possible and make the academy some money back, we have done that with Nouble and Cummings this summer. Of the rest of the list that stev3o did i would say that Sawyer, Bridcutt and Taylor have very little chance of a future at CFC, the rest all have some degree of possibility. Our academy is working, and right now we are the start of where it is working perfectly, players on top loans, a player here and there in our first team and selling players on for a profit if they are not going to make it with us. This is the essense of an academy and it won't be long before we have a first team regular from our academy.

Joe and Paulo were involved in another friendly, this time against Fulham which finished 1 - 1. Ahamed scoring our goal. Fereira played the full 90 and Joe completed 60 mins.

In the fallout of the Gael Kakuta saga Chelsea's Academy has come under serious fire. More so than normal as it has been something that the media in particular find it easy to poke fun at Chelsea for, a couple of the worst articles are listed below, they are full of rubbish opinion and completely lacking in fact and judgement: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/sep/05/Chelsea-youth-football http://timesonline.typepad.com/thegame/2009/09/oliver-kay-the-final-word-on-chelseas-youth-academy.html Chelsea's academy was effectively set up in 2005, before that it was basically neglected. We currently have 12 young players out on loan at various clubs and are making big impressions. In 2005 we took a youth team to Ireland to compete in the milk cup, that team consisted of: Rhys Taylor, Ryan Bertrand, Sam Hutchinson, Michael Mancienne, Jack Cork, Liam Bridcutt, Dean Furman, Lee Sawyer, Tomi Sarelma, Shaun Cummings, Scott Sinclair Of that team 3 have appeared for our first team. 1 is currently a part of our first team squad. 2 are playing regular in the Premier League on loan, 3 are playing in the Championship regulary (2 on loan, 1 permenantly now) and 2 play in League 1 on loan. Rhys Taylor is involved with the first team heavily also. Only 2 have left the club previously and Furman has made a decent career and is now at Oldham i think. So the question is, what is the TalkChelsea Chelsea fan view on the Academy? Is it a success or a failure so far in your eyes? Do we deserve the negative press we have on our academy or not?

Looking very good indeed Jim. Good job...

No, we can't register any players with FIFA for that period. So technically we COULD buy players but we would not be able to register them until January 2011..... But we CAN sell players.

Good to see them both continuing to make progress. Will be great to see Joe back in the side again... Also good to see Borini bagging another couple of goals, the lads a goal machine

Too right, and i havn't seen them show the best one yet. The outrageous piece of skill 4:15 in is brilliant....

Why slag him off at all? We don't know who was at fault, or if anyone was at fault. Even if we did do something wrong doesn't mean that someone is at fault.

Does anyone honestly think that the club signed Kakuta knowing full well he was under some contract that would wind us up in trouble? Of course they didn't, Chelsea will have done what they did believing that they had the right to. Everyone likes a scapegoat and Frank Arnesen seems to be easy pickings. Fact it is looks like we are being punished for something that isn't even clear if we did anything wrong. And even if we DID the punishment is not in proportion to the crime.

Zero chance of that happening, CFC will keep him neatly wrapped in cotton wool...

I agree, i think he would thrive on the big stage. He always excelled in the FA youth cup the last couple of seasons..

Indeed, no-one will be slagging off Arnesen if Kakuta makes it (which i am sure he will), or if Stoch makes it, or Bruma ect... fact is we have a exceptional group of young players who are looking like making the breakthrough (which takes time).

Not the same thing at all, but that is what FIFA are basing their punishement on, which makes them look even more stupid in my opinon.

We actually signed him when he 15. And yes, under EU law under 16's are not legally allowed to enter into any contract of employment. Does this "Pre Contract Agreement" actually mean ANYTHING legally? And if it does, then HOW does it because i am sure every club in europe would love to tie down their under 16's to some sort of contract. I think FIFA are trying to push a rule through for U18 players and are using us as a scapegoat to get it through. As i said, i would be amazed after taking this through the courts if we end up with ANY punishement other than paying a development fee to Lens

Which means that we could take him and if no fee could be agreed then it would go to tribunal to set a fee. Lens tried to reach an agreement with CFC by their own admission, so why only report us after a fee could not be agreed? Add to that the fact that what they have received money-wise by this FIFA judgment is actually LESS than what we offered them!!! The more i read about this the more fishy it sounds and the more confident i am that it will be TOTALLY reveresed.

Well that is a worry to be honest. We don't want this to affect Kakuta in any way.... We have managed to keep him a low profile up until now but this has blown that out of the water!! And FIFA spouting bo****ks about "protecting young players". Well they are not doing much to protect Kakuta by banning him for 4 months and fining him nearly £700k, all they are doing is protecting the clubs that vote these twats into power...

This whole "Pre Contract Agreement" and an actual "Professional Contract" is what this all hinges on. By law clubs cannot get players to sign a contract until they are at least 16, so at 15 there cannot possibly be anything that would tie him to the club.

It is pretty clear and has been for a while that UEFA and FIFA just do not like us. They also DO have something against English clubs because of our dominance......

I would be suprised if these bans stick..... Firstly they are applying a similar punishment to a 15 year old breaking what are told is a "pre contract agreement" to a Professional player breaking a pro contract. Secondly they would have to prove conclusively that Chelsea deliberately induced Kakuta KNOWING that he was under contract with another club. Thirdly this whole "pre contract agreement" thing HAS to be pretty flimsy. As far as FIFA are concerned Kakuta was not registered with any club until he signed a pro contract with Chelsea. If anything a pre contract agreement would be out of FIFA's jurisdiction, if a sporting court wants to fine us for breaking that agreement then thats one thing, but FIFA surely could not impose a ban on us or punish us... Time will tell.