Chelsea FC: The youth problem

Chelsea FC: The youth problem

In Chelsea, we have this philosophy, and that philosophy is buying already experienced players and leaving out our youth players, who usually end up leaving the club. We lack the patience in waiting for those players to mature and become the great players that they can potentially be. If you look at our team, in every position we have very experienced players, making it virtually impossible for a Chelsea youth to break in the squad. The last real Chelsea youth to break in the squad was John Terry. Yeah, that's how bad it is. We sold young players who had the potential to become Chelsea legends.

Fabio Borini: Born in 1991, Fabio Borini joined Chelsea on a trial in 2007, after he impressed the Chelsea scouts while he was playing in the Bologna youth system. After succeeding in the trial he went on to the Chelsea reserves, where he was a top scorer and was rated highly only after Gael Kakuta. His chances were limited at Chelsea because of Carlo Ancelotti's huge reliance on old experienced players in the likes of Drogba, Ballack and Lampard. He would only go on to make 8 appearances in the senior level and all of them as a  substitute. A loan to Parma, then a move to Roma where he scored 10 goals in 26 appearances, caught they eye of the Liverpool chiefs. He would later sign with Liverpool and score on his Anfield debut just yesterday.

Scott Sinclair: Chelsea signed Scott Sinclair in 2005, he would then immediately sent to the Reserves squad, but after several loans Plymouth Argyle, Birmingham and Wigan, it was clear to Chelsea that he was not a player up to their standard. He only made 13 appearances for Chelsea and scored  1 goal. The Chelsea "youth experts" saw it fit that Sinclair had to be sold. And so he was, in 2010, Sinclair was sold to Swansea, where he would make a total of 90 appearances and score 35 goals, a stat every winger would be proud of.

Do you see the pattern here? Buy young, place in reserves, send on loan, SELL. This is a system that we use on all reserve and youth players. How long will it be until we see Lucas Piazon loaned and sold? How long will it be until we see McEachran loaned and sold? How long will it be until we see Nathaniel Chalobah, Sam Hutchinson, Jamal Blackman, Billy Clifford, Islam Feruz loaned and sold?

Chelsea need a change of philosophy in terms of how they handle youth players, we need to nurture them to become experienced players that can help the team in the future. These players are not given the opportunity in order to show the Chelsea faithful what they can do. They are loaned and sold before they can prove what they can give to the club.

#John Marston ( @Johnmarston6 )

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