For 10 years we have witnessed millions of pounds pumped into the Chelsea youth system with very few tangible results from this investment in terms of players graduating into the first team.
We have also witnessed Chelsea buying the best young talent in Europe and sending them out on loan to get the much needed experience they will need to face the rigours of first team football in the premiership. Chelsea currently has over 20 players out on loan all over Europe.
Chelsea basically has a youth strategy and a backup youth strategy but despite all these efforts Chelsea kept brining in top players to fill in gaps in our squad. What we learnt from Lukaku was players developing out on loan sometimes come back with the wrong attitude and fail to totally integrate with the squad. There have been more failures than success stories from this massive two pronged approach but all this seems to be behind us now and we finally have something to smile about.
In the January transfer window we witnessed the promotion of Isaiah Brown and Jamal Blackman into the first team. Last year we witnessed the promotion of Nathan Ake, Dominic Solanke and Ruben Loftus-Cheek. This makes it 5 players who have come straight from our Academy and worked their way into the England under 18, under 19 and under 21 squads and now the Chelsea first team. Winning the 2014 FA youth cup was a big step in their development because they have come up to the first team with a winning attitude and culture that will only server them well in a team that aims to win everything.
I see the potential for more success next season from the young players out on loan. Possibly 2 players could be coming back next season. Patrick Bamford and Thorgan Hazard based on their current performance on loan.
One under 21 player Zouma has done the impossible and seems to have managed to come straight into the first team and relegated England international Garry Cahil to the bench so Chelsea definitely have an eye for talent and seem poised to have a team capable of dominating the premiership and Europe for the next 10 years.
