Lack of English players in the squad

[Jase 43,479]

I have read your posts and if you read mine you would see that I don't think overspending for English talent is prudent with FFP. If you want to see English players in the team then you'll have to wait till Jose is here for more than 4-5 years. And for all of you talking about culture and tradition there is no better way to preserve that than by producing our own.

Like I said to Fernando previously, no one seem to have mentioned that when we had Lampard and Cole in the team - the two English players we were proud to have in the team despite not being produced by us. Think you're confusing the concept of having English players in the squad with producing our own homegrown talent.

[Jase 43,479]

Jebus some of you need to start your own blog!

But isn't this supposed to be a board of directors love fest? Emenalo is the king! English players, later for that..

While I do agree we all have completely gone off topic in this thread, I have to ask - is complaining (or indirectly complaining) about the length of someone's post the new way to avoid a debate with a person?

[The only place to be 11,313]

What a weird discussion. Barbara, I haven't read any of your posts so I'm not addressing you.

Firstly, I think this whole discussion actually belongs in a different thread and not the board one. In terms of the board's handling of English talent, well they bought Gary Cahill in 2012 and that was about as good a bit of business that could be done in that regard in the last three years.

I'll state from the outset that I want us to have an English core. We're an English club (very specifically a London club) and it's important to the supporters that we have English players. That won't change.

But amongst the mewling for English players I see very few actual names of players that we should be buying and that's because there aren't many suitable ones. By suitable I mean a) good enough for this squad and b ) available at c) a decent price.

Who exactly should we be targetting? Specifically which players?

Shaw? £30 million when we just bought Luis and promoted Nathan Ake (young, talented and homegrown) to the squad. A guy who would earn more than Cahill, Oscar, Azpi, Ivanovic, Courtois, Matic and Schurrle? Not realistic.

Stones? Possibly but the prices quoted are twice what we paid for Zouma, three times what we paid for Cahill (who he's probably closest too in terms of style) and more than what we paid for Kalas, Omeruo, Christensen, Zouma and Ake combined.

The way forward for this club to produce young English talent seems obvious to me - produce it in-house.....and that's what we're doing. There is no new Lampard on the horizon for England, but maybe Loftus-Cheek or Baker or Boga can become our own. Ashley Cole is the greatest left-back this country has produced, but maybe we can get close with DaSilva. Then there's the Chalobahs, Solankes, Ainas and even Colketts who might come through.

English talent needs to be exceptional to succeed here and exceptional English talent is thin on the ground. Until we have the framework to insert these players into the squad and the first-team then it's hard to get the production line going but we're getting closer than we have done for years and for that the board (to bring it back on-topic) deserves credit.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

I don't think Jason is saying we should buy English players at the expense of our best players, that's upsurd. However there are players like AOC who in my opinion could easily be squad players here.

Like Le Chels said would we be worse with say AOC instead of Salah? for example.

Yes we would be because Alex would cost us a fortune to acquire. We need to develop HG talent not buy it.

[Nike 373]

TBH, if Chelsea wasnt an english team, I doubt Roman would buy english players....

However, the only England national I would want is OX, who can play multiple positions and has time to grow.

At Barcelona, they are buying players like rakitic, suarez, neymar, however, their juventile a and b are producing very good players that will come through soon. Being a Barcelona is not really feasible for Chelsea imo.

At least Chelsea doesnt have a nutcase like Perez as their board.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Like I said to Fernando previously, no one seem to have mentioned that when we had Lampard and Cole in the team - the two English players we were proud to have in the team despite not being produced by us. Think you're confusing the concept of having English players in the squad with producing our own homegrown talent.

Not at all. I think you guys fail to acknowledge the playing field has literally changed. We can no longer go out and just buy whoever we want like we could when we got Cole and Lamps, the punishment for doing that is severe.(sort of) Beyond that the reason we could put money into buying Cole and Lamps is because the club deemed them as or projected they would be world class in a few years and they were.

You say you want people to sit on the bench, how much money would you spend to buy AOC and sit him on the bench? Do you think Shaw was a gross overpayment? Lallana for the same money Cesc was purchased for? I think you guys are overlooking the simple logistics of it, we have the squad we do because we plan to develop our HG players not spend ridiculous fees to acquire them so we can save face amongst our english supporters.... Its the right thing to do!

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

While I do agree we all have completely gone off topic in this thread, I have to ask - is complaining (or indirectly complaining) about the length of someone's post the new way to avoid a debate with a person?

Honestly I didn't even bother reading them, was way too long to engage.

[mediator 2,026]

You all forgot someone that could be Chelsea material one day, Ross Barkley

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

What a weird discussion. Barbara, I haven't read any of your posts so I'm not addressing you.

Firstly, I think this whole discussion actually belongs in a different thread and not the board one. In terms of the board's handling of English talent, well they bought Gary Cahill in 2012 and that was about as good a bit of business that could be done in that regard in the last three years.

I'll state from the outset that I want us to have an English core. We're an English club (very specifically a London club) and it's important to the supporters that we have English players. That won't change.

But amongst the mewling for English players I see very few actual names of players that we should be buying and that's because there aren't many suitable ones. By suitable I mean a) good enough for this squad and b ) available at c) a decent price.

Who exactly should we be targetting? Specifically which players?

Shaw? £30 million when we just bought Luis and promoted Nathan Ake (young, talented and homegrown) to the squad. A guy who would earn more than Cahill, Oscar, Azpi, Ivanovic, Courtois, Matic and Schurrle? Not realistic.

Stones? Possibly but the prices quoted are twice what we paid for Zouma, three times what we paid for Cahill (who he's probably closest too in terms of style) and more than what we paid for Kalas, Omeruo, Christensen, Zouma and Ake combined.

The way forward for this club to produce young English talent seems obvious to me - produce it in-house.....and that's what we're doing. There is no new Lampard on the horizon for England, but maybe Loftus-Cheek or Baker or Boga can become our own. Ashley Cole is the greatest left-back this country has produced, but maybe we can get close with DaSilva. Then there's the Chalobahs, Solankes, Ainas and even Colketts who might come through.

English talent needs to be exceptional to succeed here and exceptional English talent is thin on the ground. Until we have the framework to insert these players into the squad and the first-team then it's hard to get the production line going but we're getting closer than we have done for years and for that the board (to bring it back on-topic) deserves credit.

Quoted for truth every word of it is 100% accurate.

Makes absolutely no sense to overspend on English talent just so they can sit on the bench and so the supporters can say we have English talent on the team. Anyone who thinks otherwise is clearly not well in tune with the economics of the game we're playing these days.

The way to graduate youth to the first team is with a stable management group who drill the kids with our philosophy from 14,15,16 and on. The ones that adapt to what we want to do as a team will get promoted, the ones that aren't quite there will be sold to a lesser side.

The problem with the growth of our first team players is exactly the same with our youth, we can't keep changing philosophies every year or so and expect players to adapt and grow... When youth players experience a change at the top they usually have to wait a couple years before the new Manager can fully assess them and possibly integrate them. Its a slower process than people want to acknowledge, especially at a top side like Chelsea.

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

You all forgot someone that could be Chelsea material one day, Ross Barkley

He'd have to be acquired on a free. If Lallana was 27m and Shaw 30m, I don't even want to think what Barkley will cost...

[Chelsea Legend 11 4,062]

Which is why Bayern, Barcelona, United and even Real Madrid are such big names all around the world. You look to those team and you see German club, Spanish clubs, English club. Whether we want to admit or not, a club needs to keep its identity to be more marketable - and I think it was in this thread I read people talking about how little marketable we are. It helps for a team from a certain country to have a strong link with the culture, the style and a core of players from that country to make it a strong brand. That's how marketing works.

Clubs go global especially because of weak leagues around the world. Because there isn't a better league in their country (or for the minority that is just crazy about the sport that they'll watch the best leagues in the world regardless) those fans turn to EPL for example and if they develop a liking for the league, they'll choose a team to support (there are many, many, many people that watch foreign leagues and don't support any team). There's the bandwagoners that will choose the flavor of the month which is whoever has the biggest stars and more titles. A few years down the road they change their allegiance because now another team has the biggest stars or more titles. But normally you need to feel like the team you like represent the league, culture and style of their country. Chelsea were able to keep that even when Roman was here. We've had many foreign players prior to Roman and we kept many English players in the early years after he bought the club, but lately those players are being replaced by foreigns... that's not a good sign, that's not how this is supposed to be and that affects our marketability.

Couldn't be further from the truth. Those clubs are huge because they win and have been winning for a long time! Has nothing to do with the homegrown quota. Barcelona for instance have an incredibly rich DUTCH tradition! They also have a rich BRAZILIAN tradition, that's not HG that's global. Real Madrid? Perhaps in the 30's and 40's but today they are getting killed for not having a lot of HG talent which is why they paid an arm and a leg to get Isco and Illaramendi two years ago.

What people who spew this tradition tripe fail to realize is the game is GLOBAL now and its grown beyond the borders of the borough or city or country it originated from. In order to grow the club further we need to continue to win and buy talent. In a sense it IS like Football Manager in that the winning and players you acquire make you a bigger club. No different here. If Chelsea put a team out like this: Hart, Cahill, Johnson, Baines, Azpilicueta, Barkley, Matic, Lallana, OX, Willian, Sturridge they would be popular amongst the local supporters but definitely NOT a Global brand capable of grabbing the attention of a kid who loves football in Sweden. This is what football is about now, beyond the border marketing and growth. Its why they do preseason tours at every corner of the globe.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

I wanted us to buy Shaw, who had 'proved' himself capable of playing for a top club.

No, he really hasn't. I'm not even sure how he'll get into the united team.

Cheers for proving my point. You practically picked 1 English player and categorize the entire NT as 'stink'.

You can't blame him for that. If you want to prove your point then name the available English talents that would be good buys for us. The burden of the proof in this argument lies on you not him.

[The only place to be 11,313]

You all forgot someone that could be Chelsea material one day, Ross Barkley

Could be Chelsea material....would cost £30 million or so.

Is he going to be better than Boga? Would you bet £30 million on it? He could be another Jose Baxter, but the fact is that Everton gave him a chance after a dodgy loan to Wednesday (I believe) whereas we had Chalobah on-loan at Watford in the same year, who performed exceptionally and didn't get a look-in.

There needs to be a commitment to youth and that comes through consistency

[Jase 43,479]

You can't blame him for that. If you want to prove your point then name the available English talents that would be good buys for us. The burden of the proof in this argument lies on you not him.

If you have actually read the subsequent posts, you would know that I've named some of them. And regardless of that, it's still silly to generalize (+ too easy to say everyone is bad).

[iseah100 5,612]

If you have actually read the subsequent posts, you would know that I've named some of them. And regardless of that, it's still silly to generalize (+ too easy to say everyone is bad).

Not many are saying every English player sucks. But very few English players are top class. Sturridge is the only one who COULD start at another top club and Sterling if he keeps improving. They have some promising young players but none who are worth what they would cost. Lallana is 24, not really young, don't get upset, it's just how it is.

[The Skipper 20,609]

Not many are saying every English player sucks. But very few English players are top class. Sturridge is the only one who COULD start at another top club and Sterling if he keeps improving. They have some promising young players but none who are worth what they would cost. Lallana is 24, not really young, don't get upset, it's just how it is.

Believe it or not, Lallana is actually 26. Older than Costa .

[Jase 43,479]

Not many are saying every English player sucks. But very few English players are top class. Sturridge is the only one who COULD start at another top club and Sterling if he keeps improving. They have some promising young players but none who are worth what they would cost. Lallana is 24, not really young, don't get upset, it's just how it is.

If you think I'm feeling upset over this, then

Regarding the highlighted part, that's precisely what I've been saying! What I don't get is why some are so adamant in categorizing everyone as shit just because most of them are that.

[iseah100 5,612]

Believe it or not, Lallana is actually 26. Older than Costa .

Really? whoaaaa...[emoji52] [emoji55]

[Stats 7,147]

No, he really hasn't. I'm not even sure how he'll get into the united team.

When Shaw is back from injury he will take that LWB back spot quite easily. Even if they revert to 4 at the back he will get that LB spot quite easily as well imo.

[iseah100 5,612]

If you think I'm feeling upset over this, then

Regarding the highlighted part, that's precisely what I've been saying! What I don't get is why some are so adamant in categorizing everyone as shit just because most of them are that.

Just the way it is, man. Just like people think every player on the Spanish/German/Brazilian team is world class.