New Players!

[Danny 0]

Who would you like to see make the step up from the youth team to first team squad / starting 11?

[LDN Blue 7,903]

:') great post.

Kakuta, Walker, Bruma, Sala, McEachran, Matić & Töre

[ZanSnake 1,211]

Bruma, Matic, Kakuta, Borini, McEarchan, Van Aanholt, Clifford, Tore and Walker.

Cork and Mancienne as well, ambitious but hopeful.

[Badboy 1,526]

Kakuta and maybe matic

[Luke 60]

Kakuta is a must now that we have lost Joey Cole.

Matic looks promising.

And personally I'd like to see Mancienne, Hutchinson, Cork and Borini being given a chance.

[EskWeston 696]

It is hard to know who Carlo will want to use this season, we don't know who will get sent out on loan, who will be recalled from loan ect...

I think that Matic and Kakuta will certainly get used plenty this season and hopefully impress enough to get more and more games. I think Sam Hutchinson will be used sporadically, he will have to be due to his situation, loan isn't an option for him and the club and Carlo like him so i think he will get a look in this season. The Mancienne situation is unclear. We don't know if players used last season like Borni, Van Aanholt and Bruma will get loan moves this season or not. I would like Jack Cork to be kept around and involved.

Then the more impressive youngsters will get chances here and there also i would think. I wouldn't be suprised to see Josh McEachran and Connor Clifford given a run out this season.

I will be doing a nice big pre season report for the youngsters soon, probably next weekend.

[NattyBlue 44]

Indeed I believe Matic will fill Ballacks role, the guy already is bursting with confidence, Kakuta for obvious reason we all know his ability. Bruma too, I think he's phenomenal and we have another real gem with him. Borini I'm pretty sure will make it because Carlo has a lot of faith in the young lad, every interview he mentions that he see's Fabio like Inzaghi so...Tore would be a nice to make it up too, we would make a lot of money on him and he's a beastly opponent, it's like having Drobga on the wing! (is he training with the first team yet?) Joshy too is great (Englands Messi!) haha.

Cork I think is leaving even though I don't want him to, he tends to have some supporters slightly torn, some think he can make it, some think he can't. What about Kaby too? the tiny midfielder we have, great feet and has a temper on him but when he you know, goes through puberty and stuff he could be able to hold his own a bit more too

[Aesthetic Relic 301]

Whilst Monday sees the Chelsea first-team return to Cobham for pre-season, the younger generation are already back in Surrey after their summer breaks.

For eight teenagers, the hard work starts now as they signed their maiden professional contracts.

James Ashton, Billy Clifford, Aziz Deen-Conteh, Rohan Ince, Milan Lalkovic, Josh McEachran, Philipp Prosenik and George Saville put pen to paper yesterday afternoon to secure themselves senior deals, and whilst it’s a momentus occasion, they know what is expected of them.

With the security of an immediate future at the club and a hefty bump in salary comes the expectation of even harder work to take their game as far as they can, in hope of progressing through the club’s ranks.

It’s a real mixed bunch of players, some of whom had brighter starts to their scholarships than others, but all eight are interesting and intriguing individuals with potential be harnessed.

Five of the group were key to last season’s FA Youth Cup success, with only George Saville not really having a key involvement through choice, as both James Ashton and Phillip Prosenik missed large parts of the campaign through injury.

Prosenik was guaranteed professional terms as part of his agreement to join the club last summer from Rapid Vienna, so his was expected and he will be hoping for an injury-free 2010-11 to show everybody what he can do.

For Ashton, however, it speaks volumes of how highly rated he is around the club, for despite being limited to a handful of outings in his first year full-time at the club, he has been rewarded with pro terms. He too will be eager to make up for lost time in the coming months and display his brand of midfield technical excellence.

Ince deserves credit for working hard to come back from an injury crisis of his own, battling to return to full fitness after a cruciate ligament problem kept him out until January. He improved with every appearance and was superb in the second leg of the Cup Final.

Full-backs Clifford and Deen-Conteh caught the eye en route to success with their energetic and attacking displays, with Clifford stepping up to the reserve ranks. Deen-Conteh will be looking to follow in his footsteps after making more youth team appearances than any other player last season.

Lalkovic too made the leap into Steve Holland’s reserve squad and looked very much at home, earning the occasional spot training with the first team. Saville had a fantastic year in defensive midfield, moving out of his schoolboy defensive position, and was quietly effective and composed throughout.

Finally a word for McEachran, who, of course, is well known to many a Blues fan after his fabulous Cup performances and his key role in England’s European Under-17 Championship success.

Having travelled with the first team as a 16 year-old and trained with them since the age of 15, much is expected of the Oxfordshire-born schemer, and this is another achievement to knock off for him on his way to the top. He’ll understand as much as anybody what it takes to get there, and is entirely capable of doing so.

Congratulations to the eight new professionals – your time is now.

[Duppy Conqueror 1,451]

well..first off i think they gotta give Mancienne,Cork and Bertrand a real chance of making it this year..give them some real exposure in the 1st team..even if it`s just in the cup ties against weaker teams and teams like Blackpool,West Brom etc..in the PL..for me i`ve selected those 3 as i think a) they`ve had too many loan spells and need to get back into playing in the style Chelsea play..they`re been pretty good on loan but its how they gell into our team that is what we need to find out..and they are probably getting quite close to the stage where they are gonna start thinking that they may never make it at chelsea and may push for a transfer elsewhere.

i`d either play Mancienne as DM or RB...not sure about CB..

Bertrand at LB cover obviously..Van Aanholt is good but Bertrand is a lot closer to leaving than PVA so best to give him atleast a run out or two to find out if he`s worth keeping or not..perhaps have him start on opening day and take it from there..if after a game or two he fails to impress atall then let him go prior to the transfer window closing..(if theres acceptable offers forthcoming) i think PVA is more likely to make it with us but Bertrand has some talent..time to find out if it`s Chelsea standard talent or not.

Cork i like most out of the 3 players mentioned so far..should have really been given less loan outs and more oppurtunities with us by now..but hopefully from here on in he will get a real chance with the more Youth friendly Carlo now in charge..who seems to be the most young player friendly manager we have had since Claudio.

maybe give Di Santo a month in the reserves to rebuild his confidence with some goals then get him involved in the first team again...he may not make it but the sooner we give him the chance to get the Blackburn "nitemare" out of his system the better..then if he doesn`t get back on track by january we can look to off-load him in that transfer window..

Kakuta,Matic,Hutchinson & Bruma i think will definately have more games than last year..and if Bertrand goes then Van Aanholt will.

Borini..i`m not sure..as things stand now we should give him a chance in the 1st team squad next season..but if we sign a striker,loan him out but be picky with who we loan him out too...don`t loan him to a team who play route one football,where he won`t get many oppurtunities to score or places where he won`t play many games..i think perhaps a championship side like Swansea City would be a good place for him to be loaned to ..they have a continental coach who plays good free flowing football like us but are really missing a goalscorer to finish the many chances their midfielders create...i think he would get a lot of goals with them and it would be a good place to bridge the gap between playing in the reserves and top flight football..also they play infront of around 18,000 during home games..so the experience of playing infront of bigger crowds on a weekly basis than he plays infront of with the reserves would be something else he could gain..

another place where i think would be good for him to be loaned to is although i still hate them and don`t like to think of us helping them in any way ,is Leeds...play infront of premiership size crowds every home game..a team that plays attacking football and one that after losing Beckford could do with someone like Borini..also theyve just been promoted to the championship.

other players i would give a run out but mainly in the Milk Cup, are McEachran,Sala,Rajkovic (if he finally joins up with us this year) Connor Clifford, Tore & Jacob Mellis.

i really don`t want us to make too many youngsters go out on loan..let outfield players go out once..but i think anymore and you are likely to hinder the progress of the player like has happened with Scott Sinclair.. also i think we really have to be careful that our youngsters that do go out on loan go to somewhere that they can gain the most out of..don`t just let them go to the first team that shows interest in them..do some research into what they can offer the youngster.

although i don`t think it`s a good idea to let outfield players go out on loan too often i think it wont effect our young goalkeepers in a bad way...no matter what style ,formations etc..a team plays the goalkeeper does the same things anyway...so i`m not concerned about them being loaned out so much.

Edited July 4, 2010 by BlueDrew