Chelsea Youth

[The only place to be 11,313]

To be honest, as long as 1 of the talented youngsters from our academy makes the Chelsea first team and stays there, I'll be satisfied.

I get the feeling that Chalobah or Aké are more likely to make it. I'm not hating on the rest of our academy but Aké showed promising signs in his cameo appearances last season and Chalobah did well in the majority of Watford's games last season.

As for Josh McEachran, I can only hope we find him a suitable loan destination or sell him with a buy back clause....kind of like what L'pool did with Shelvey.

I agree with Ake and Chalobah making it and for the same reasons. Loftus-Cheek looks like a thoroughbred as well though, more physically developed than Chalobah was at that age and he already plays with the patience of a pro. He's just got to keep his head because physically and technically he looks further along than any player I've seen at that age for a while.

Josh....urgh. Bored of talking about him because it's always the same. He needs a very particular type of loan, with a very particular type of manager and a very particular type of team. You can't just throw him into any system because it won't work, but with a bit of luck then maybe he can make it.

[Styles 9,790]

Fuck off calling our academy crap OK. I'm trying to be polite but people like you who just want to moan and moan and moan really do test my patience. Maybe you should start writing letters to Points of View or your local newspaper and complain about potholes.....or just have a wank .

Our academy's performance in tournaments is anything but crap. The results speak for themselves, but so do the performances of young men like Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Nat Chalobah.

If you really want to compare us to Southampton then fine - they have lower expectations than us. When Oxlade-Chamberlain and Walcott broke through I believe they were in the Championship, although I commend them for sticking by Luke Shaw last season. Unfortunately the constant need for success and lack of patience from our fans (who also call our academy crap) means that players don't get the chance to learn in our team, and that's a real shame.

Ultimately you people are part of the problem. You want all the reward without any of the discomfort and that's cancerous to any club looking to develop youngsters. We're about a decade into a new era for our club, so anyone who was expecting La Masia to spring up overnight (without a B team to help them) was going to be sorely disappointed.

These threads are always very revealing. You can tell who is aware of just how much talent we have and how youth academies work.

Even if none of them come through I will have enjoyed the process. I've been to u21/cup games and will continue to go. No point arguing with some of the people here honestly.

Edited August 8, 2013 by Styles

[The only place to be 11,313]

and I suppose only you as the "fans favourite " is a true fan ... I really am amazed that someone as knowledgeable as you still

thinks our academy is doing a good job

Yeah, because I typed 'fans favourite' in that box.

I think our academy does well up to the age of 18. I think our technical director and the coaches do well in finding suitable loans for most of our youngsters.

What I think we struggle with is that transition into our first-team squad, but that's not a problem unique to us. The lack of stability at the top has added to that. It's hard for a manager to look at a 16 year old and help guide him when there's a good chance he won't be here when that player is 18.

But when you look at how players like Ake performed when given a chance I think there's every reason to be positive about the future of our academy. Take last season's FA Youth Cup final. We lost but we stuck to playing football that translates better to first-team professional football, whilst Norwich essentially played for the win with rather negative tactics. That philosophy is important, so we have youngsters learning to play a certain way be it against Norwich or Barcelona.

These threads are always very revealing. You can tell who is aware of just how much talent we have and how youth academies work.

Even if none of them come through I will have enjoyed the process. I've been to u21/cup games and will continue to go. No point arguing with some of the people here honestly.

I enjoy the games too but of course you want these players making that step up. To me though, there's very few greater joys in football than watching a young guy make it after years of hard work.

[Styles 9,790]

I enjoy the games too but of course you want these players making that step up. To me though, there's very few greater joys in football than watching a young guy make it after years of hard work.

Oh definitely. The fact that we have some players about to become integral to the future of this club like Chalobah is a great bonus.

I just love the buzz of seeing somebody like Boga dominate and then tracking his progress. That process, repeated for several players, for me is the best part.

Edited August 8, 2013 by Styles

[Badboy 1,526]

You're talking about a United academy that was streets ahead of us in the mid-90s so I'd again refer you to the earlier point that you just need to be patient. The club was overhauled almost completely when Roman took over, the academy and training facilities included. In recent years we've had great success in the FA Youth Cup and now we have players on the cusp of breaking through, although if you want to denigrate Chelsea players like Ryan Bertrand as 'Bench Warmer' than that's up to you. Personally I think he did alright when he started for us in the Champions League Final.

Explain the other clubs then without dodging it. Bertrand did well in the CL final but he's still a bench warmer and at 24 years of age the only experience he has is Championship football. The other clubs have at least 3-4 other players who have made their mark in the last decade ! Your point of having the youth academy revamped isn't even a plausible argument. We've seen at least 3 to 4 generations of youth fail at this club with probably the most expensive youth system in the world.

[Kojo 4,676]

I personally think our Youth has gotten better,

Chalobah and McEachran look really impressive, and some of the players that played in the friendlies against City where immense, Loftuscheek & the danish defender. Kalas is a good centre back, not sure if he will make it but you can't just draw the line like that just yet.

And of course Nathan Ake, he has been very good whenever he has played, I would like to see him have a full season loan though this season.

I could be wrong, it's only a few games for some of the players and we can't exactly say 'wow these are going to be great in the future' but the results do look positive for most.

[Jase 43,479]

I know everyone loves following superstars, big named players who shine brightly for there team, but who out there would rather watch a youngster come up through the grades? Develop through the academy, follow the player from a young age! Check out the Chelsea players we hope to be watching for a long time!

http://www.undisputedsports.com/2013/07/chelsea-youth-to-shine-bright/

No need for another thread.

Merging with the 'Chelsea Youth' topic.

[Tomo 21,733]

Man Utd Darren Fletcher John O'shea Danny Welbeck Tom Cleverly

Man city Micha Richards Joe Hart. Nedum Onuoha

Liverpool.... Raheem Sterling Martin Kelly Jay Spearing...

Tottenham Andros Townsend Ledley King Jake Livermore Danny Rose Kyle Walker ( Kyle Walker is debatable but he still started off in the youth academy then broke through)

Chelsea Bench Warmer oh sorry I meant Ryan Bertrand

For a start all the player's i highlighted had to prove themself's on PL loans before they got a shot at their respective clubs and secondly Hart, King and Walker aside, none of those players mentioned have been first Xl players at their clubs for an extended period of time (not at their parent clubs anyhow), so you say Bertrand's a bench warmer, well so are all of those players you have listed bar 3.

[Tomo 21,733]

Im not too bothered about criticism off our own youth system as we haven't produced as many as we should have, what i really hate hearing is other clubs (namely Man.Utd) being used as an example of how it should be done. They way they casted aside Morrison because he had a little of bit of an attitude was borderline criminal.

[Atlas Lion 1,223]

You're talking about a United academy that was streets ahead of us in the mid-90s so I'd again refer you to the earlier point that you just need to be patient. The club was overhauled almost completely when Roman took over, the academy and training facilities included. In recent years we've had great success in the FA Youth Cup and now we have players on the cusp of breaking through, although if you want to denigrate Chelsea players like Ryan Bertrand as 'Bench Warmer' than that's up to you. Personally I think he did alright when he started for us in the Champions League Final.

Fuck off calling our academy crap OK. I'm trying to be polite but people like you who just want to moan and moan and moan really do test my patience. Maybe you should start writing letters to Points of View or your local newspaper and complain about potholes.....or just have a wank .

Our academy's performance in tournaments is anything but crap. The results speak for themselves, but so do the performances of young men like Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Nat Chalobah.

If you really want to compare us to Southampton then fine - they have lower expectations than us. When Oxlade-Chamberlain and Walcott broke through I believe they were in the Championship, although I commend them for sticking by Luke Shaw last season. Unfortunately the constant need for success and lack of patience from our fans (who also call our academy crap) means that players don't get the chance to learn in our team, and that's a real shame.

Ultimately you people are part of the problem. You want all the reward without any of the discomfort and that's cancerous to any club looking to develop youngsters. We're about a decade into a new era for our club, so anyone who was expecting La Masia to spring up overnight (without a B team to help them) was going to be sorely disappointed.

Amen.

Some fans just lack patience and can't truly understand what it means for the club and the league to establish homegrown players.

Might aswell call it La Premier Liga now

Edited August 9, 2013 by Cicero

[Yeboii 1,844]

Chelsea U21s have been doing great against Southampton U21s... Baker scored a really good goal (from a freekick, I think it was a failed cross). Brown scored a good header after a good build up. Davey scored a header after a freekick from Baker. Feruz scored a really great goal from far out after a great strike.

[Stats 7,056]

http://www.chelseafc.com/under21s-article/article/3435710/title/under-21s-report-chelsea-5-leicester-city-1

That is 4 in 3 for Brown now. Can see the fuss over him and why he already has made his PL debut. Got 4 in 3 for us in the U21 league so far and plus the numerous amount of goals he scored in pre-season and he is only 16. Skipped past the U18 level and already looks too good for the U21s. Our team for the youth cup is going to look quite menacing with the likes of him, Boga, RLC, Feruz, Musonda...

[The only place to be 11,313]

My optimism is waning.

Maybe I'm being harsh, but I think EVERY single youth product over the age of 17 has either stagnated or regressed upon the arrival of Jose Mourinho.

Chalobah has gone from a play-off club to another play-off club who aren't actually as good as the one he was at last season.

McEachran has gone to a Championship club where he's got fewer games.

Ake has gone from the fringes of the first-team squad to a youth team player exclusively.

Apart from Baker, no-one stepped up to the league cup squad.

Courtois and Lukaku are roughly where they were last season.

De Bruyne.....urgh.

Piazon has gone from the first-team squad and Malaga, to Vitesse.

Bertrand....if anyone sees him can you get him to call his mum.

Kalas...unfortunately injured.

Loftus-Cheek may have been eaten by Toure after the friendly in America.

[Spike 12,049]

No its not though because we have spent much more then any other and we've constantly failed at this club. We actually brought it into fashion to spend millions on youth player who are 16-18 years of age its ridiculous !

Last 13 Years since the start of this century players that are home grown or bought at very young ages who played for the youth academy before breaking through....

Man Utd Darren Fletcher John O'shea Danny Welbeck Tom Cleverly

Man city Micha Richards Joe Hart. Nedum Onuoha

Liverpool.... Raheem Sterling Martin Kelly Jay Spearing...

Tottenham Andros Townsend Ledley King Jake Livermore Danny Rose Kyle Walker ( Kyle Walker is debatable but he still started off in the youth academy then broke through)

Chelsea Bench Warmer oh sorry I meant Ryan Bertrand

John Terry broke through in 1998 and if you say Ledley king broke through at a similar time he never because it was his performance at Anfield in November 2000 that got him into the Tottenham first team squad.

Raheem Sterling barely even counts. He was at QPR for much longer than Liverpool.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

It does get very frustrating. But whenever the first team is under more pressure than usual, all talks about youth integration disappear. Hopefully with some good results and some stability, we'll at least see the likes of Kalas, Omeruo and Ake in some matches in the second half of the season.

[The only place to be 11,313]

If there's little will to bring youth through to the first team, what is the point in having an academy? We might as well just buy players at 18 and not bother with our own production line.

[Rmpr 8,977]

People in here are so naive when it comes to youth academies and their expectations, it is unbelievable!

[The only place to be 11,313]

People in here are so naive when it comes to youth academies and their expectations, it is unbelievable!

People in here are not naive when it comes to youth academies and have reasonable expectations.

Okay.

Enjoy.