An article of interest popped up this afternoon authored by one Joe Lovejoy writing for the Guardian. The article title is ‘Chelsea Youth Production Line Still Malfunctioning’ in which Joe, having attended our Youth team’s win against Bristol City yesterday, addresses the failures of the Chelsea Youth setup.
This is a subject that irritates me, I’ll admit it. Chelsea are largely associated with splurging on established talent, even pre-Roman, and thus a hostile environment for youth players. The fact of the matter is....we can’t argue. Jose Mourinho disdained our youth setup with no viable options to call upon and it was one of the many issues which started the crumble of his relationship with the club. His 'replacement' Avram Grant was under far too much pressure to win over the senior players to even look at youth, yet it is worth noting that Scott Sinclair’s only Chelsea goal came under Grant against Wycombe in the League Cup.
The Great Brazilian Dope – Luiz Filipe Scolari – came in with the remit of utilising youth, refreshing training methods and ‘re-branding’ the side. He came with a good record of blooding younger players when older more established pros were wilting, and so we had some hope. Under Scolari’s brief and spineless reign we did see impact performances from Miroslav Stoch and Franco Di Santo, both claiming assists for vital goals, and the first evidence of prospective talents was glimpsed. However we all know how Scolari’s tenure ended, and we also know how Guus Hiddink’s time with us panned out – similar to Grant in that his focus was completely on the senior squad and their results.
So has Chelsea been a good place for youngsters in the last few years? Honestly, no.
In reality this has been as much down to managers and the pressure they’ve been under, as to the quality of the players themselves. We’ve had several ‘big hopes’ pass from youth to obscurity in the last decade. Leon Knight, Jimmy Smith, Anthony Grant, Ben Sahar (it bears mention all these players are still of high potential and quality and could well make a career for themselves, and good luck to them) to name but a few. We’ve then had a few marginally more successful players in Carlton Cole (we’ll come to you later, Bruno), Mikael Forssell and Robert Huth who didn’t quite had the quality to command a starting position. I’ve almost certainly missed some out, from both brackets, but you get the picture.
When Abramovich bought the club we underwent a massive change. The Academy was for all intents and purposes scrapped and rebuilt. The strategy was always for production of one player of senior quality per season – as of 2010 (We’re in 2009, by the way). In terms of our performance vs. other clubs, then, the fact our scouting and youth setups were almost conceived anew in 2003 means we had as much catching up to do in that area as we did in the league and Europe.
So back to the present, and the accusation our Youth setup is malfunctioning. ‘Who’s broken through to the senior squad?’ the hacks cry. No-one yet, we respond. But are we on target? Damn right we are. And here’s why.
Michael Mancienne., A languid centre half currently on loan for a season at Wolves (and being largely praised for his performances) recently got called up to the England squad for the match against Germany. Michael is 21 years old, and signed a fresh contract before his loan. Bearing in mind the presence of John Terry, Ricardo Carvalho, Alex and Branislav Ivanovic it is understandable that club and player feel a loan at a Premiership club playing week-in week-out will be of benefit (some would argue we should never have recalled him last season, but if was for Champions League eligibility this season and no-one knew whether Carvalho would remain at the club or regain fitness)
Michael is a star of the future, there is no doubt there, his performances for a lesser club in an elite league already suggest a successful career ahead – and the offer of a new contract suggests we feel it will be at Stamford Bridge.
Scott Sinclair. Scott’s been with the club a few years now, he’s been loaned to Plymouth, QPR, Charlton, Birmingham and now Wigan. In his time at those clubs he’s scored some absolutely fantastic goals (search his name on YouTube to find a goal-of-the-round in the FA Cup for Plymouth) and provided each club with pace, direction and attacking threat. For his most recent club he has hit the post and spurned a glorious chance to net in only few games. Sinclair’s future as a Chelsea player undeniably hangs on this season’s performances, however the fact Wigan felt Sinclair would fill Antonio Valencia’s boots is a big tick against his name, as is the enduring persistence with him from us in the face of strong interest from Premiership and Championship clubs. Keep an eye on Wigan’s results and Match Of The Day.
Franco Di Santo. The young argentine has been well on the radar of Chelsea supporters since his arrival in January 2008 from Chilean side Audax Italiano. Scorer in both of his pre-seasons and creator of a key goal last season, Di Santo has been on the fringes of the first team for a while now. Lethal at reserve level, his potential has clearly been noted by several managers with loan options in Spain as well as his eventual destination of Blackburn. Sadly Franco has suffered a hamstring injury early in his loan period at Ewood, however as he’s due to return here in January to bolster the forward line in Drogba and Kalou’s absence in January we’ll all be hoping Franco gets more playing time and proves what most of us know; he just needs to put the ball in the net a few times to open the flood gates.
Miroslav Stoch. The Slovak international winger (on the bench for tonight’s crucial qualifier against the Petr Cech Republic, aged 19) is currently on loan at Steve McLaren’s FC Twente who are one point from the top of the Eredivisie and unbeaten this season. His performances to date have been excellent, with assists and plaudits following his performances in Holland. The very fact at 19 he is being called up for his senior international squad is testament to his potential and current level of ability, let alone the fact he’s also already scored in a World Cup qualification match. Stoch’s performance vs. Stoke at Stamford Bridge last season, coming on as a sub, captured the imagination of Chelsea fans in no small way. Even now there are questions of why this player was loaned out, and not allowed time to play whilst Joe Cole continues his recuperation.
That’s four players on loan at top flight clubs, four players who can make a real claim for a senior squad birth at Chelsea from January or next season. Basically put, we need one of four talented youngsters to show enough class this season to hit the target of our first senior capable youth by 2010/2011 season. Would you bet against Mancienne being the player to come in and replace Carvalho within the squad as he moves on? Would you bet against Stoch being the man to replace an outgoing Deco or Malouda? No, not me anyway.
In concentrating on these players we are of course doing a disservice to others. For example we have Jack Cork and Patrick van Aanholt on loan at Coventry City, the young Dutch left back drawing massive praise for his performances so far (see upcoming BlueTinted feature – Loan Blues) and the English defensive midfielder looking to build on his impressive period at Watford under ex-Blues reserve coach Brendan Rodgers, now of Reading, where he has taken another young left-back, Ryan Bertrand (one of Norwich’s better players last season).
Jacob Mellis and Tom Taiwo grace League One with Southampton and Carlisle respectively, each expected to at least earn Championship loans next season. There are a couple of other youngsters on loan; you can see the full list below.
In all we have an extremely strong presence on the loan radar for clubs in lower divisions – if they come to Chelsea for a player, they aren’t disappointed. We may well end up with a new smattering of Championship/League One players once of our books, but you can’t win without gambling and the talent of these players should not be under-estimated. We are, of course, skimming over the likes of Adam Phillip, Fabio Borini and the man himself Gael Kakuta, all watched for the reserves by Ancelotti in the last week.
When it comes to the morality of our recruitment, it is entirely moot when discussing as a Chelsea issue. This is a football issue, a global issue, and has two very strong sides to the argument – which we will skirt for the time being on here.
But to close, we would like to point out a few facts about the England national side. Tonight in the friendly vs. Slovenia there were many of England’s finest on show, with only Rio Ferdinand and Joe Cole (both of West Ham’s youth academy) missing from the arguable starting line-up.
Tonight appearing for England there were the following...4 West Ham, 2 Leeds, 1 Luton, 1 Arsenal, 1 Man City, 1 Aston Villa, 1 Liverpool, 1 Everton, 1 Leicester, 1 Wolves, 1 Norwich and....2 Chelsea youth products involved. The immediate point really, bearing in mind the already mentioned Ferdinand and Cole, is West Ham’s excellent record in producing players. But stand away from that a moment, and look at the other representations. Chelsea stand alongside Leeds in players they produced representing the national side, the two clubs coming second only to West Ham and ahead of all others. There was no representation for Man Utd at all. The much fabled Arsenal youth factory had provided us with Ashley Cole, a player on the England scene for nearly a decade now and a staunch supporter of the Chelsea youngsters, often seen attending youth matches and sharing his experience.
For a club with a malfunctioning youth production system, bearing in mind the state our youth setup WAS 10 to 15 years ago...we’ve not done too badly.
Don’t take the bullshit, Chelsea supporters, don’t believe the nonsense. I was told tonight that Joe Lovejoy is a Chelsea fan himself. If he is, he should frankly know better. As there are very real reasons why there is a massive amount of optimism throughout our support about the youth players coming up for the first time in years. The optimism can be supported by simply watching the reserve team and who plays in it.
Portsmouth Reserves 2 – 5 Chelsea Reserves (01.09.2009)
Team: Rhys Taylor (19yrs old), Nikki Ahmed (18), Kenny Strickland (18), Nana Ofori-Towumasi (19), Ben Gordon (18), Jacobo Sala (17), Connor Clifford (17), Michael Woods (c) (19), Gael Kakuta (18), Adam Phillip (18), Fabio Borini (18), (one sub Billy Clifford (16)). This is an average age of 17.9 yrs old, average age being every journalist’s Holy Grail when speaking of squad prospects. Joe, maybe you could pop along and watch them, then write about how poor a prospect Borini is?
Chelsea Loans
Scott Sinclair (20) – Wigan Athletic (Barclays Premier League)
Michael Mancienne (21) – Wolves (Barclays Premier League)
Franco Di Santo (20) – Blackburn Rovers (Barclays Premier League)
Miroslav Stoch (19) – FC Twente (Eredivisie)
Slobodan Rajkovic (20) – FC Twente (Eredivisie)
Patrick van Aanholt (19) – Coventry City (Championship)
Jack Cork (20) – Coventry City (Championship)
Ryan Bertrand (20) – Reading FC (Championship)
Jacob Mellis (18) – Southampton (League One)
Tom Taiwo (19) – Carlisle United (League One)
Lee Sawyer (19) – Southend United (League One)
Liam Bridcutt (20) – Stockport County (League One)