I know it’s a recycled one, but the fact that John Terry—at 35-years-old, having made his debut against Aston Villa all the way back in 1998—was the last youth product to graduate from Chelsea’s academy and become a first-team regular is astounding. It sets quite a poor precedent for young players.
Seriously, there is no bias when I say this, but the West London club have the greatest academy in England. The trophies speak for themselves—the Under-21 side, since 2012, have accumulated four FA Youth Cups and became the first side to win two consecutive UEFA Youth League trophies last season.
Jose Mourinho, in his second spell, promised to promote youth, but he failed. Sure, he handed a couple of academy players their debut, but most of those were just unnecessary, meaningless, two-minute cameos. In June of 2014, the Portuguese assured fans and the media that he would make Izzy Brown, Lewis Baker and Dominic Solanke first-team regulars at Chelsea, and England. In fact, he claimed he would have “failed” if he did not fulfill those promises.
Those three are not even on the fringes of the club at the moment, spending last season in Netherlands at Chelsea’s loan dispenser, Vitesse Arnhem. There’s still plenty of years for Baker, Brown and Solanke to cement themselves as first-team regulars in the future, it’s just unfortunate that this was a case of a manager’s pledges to nurture and play youth being unfulfilled.
Some youth products have been rather unlucky in the past. Josh McEachran was trusted by Carlo Ancelotti. Di Matteo saw huge potential in left-back Ryan Bertrand, and saddled Bertrand with an onerous task by fielding the largely inexperienced talent in the bloody Champions League final at 22-years-old. Rafael Benitez, also, entrusted Nathan Ake with a plenty of opportunities in his spell as interim boss, including a start in the Europa League final.
For those, it’s just been a case of their most trusted man departing the club and his successors not showing the faith that their own personal advocate did.
With Antonio Conte having already taken the reigns at Stamford Bridge, there is an underlying sense of hope and expectation that the Italian, with his good track record of promoting youth players, can finally be the Chelsea manager that establishes a core of talent from the academy.
With Chelsea getting back into the Champions League this season an absolute must, there isn’t a very high possibility that many youngsters will be frequent starters in the XI in Antonio Conte’s first campaign in English football.
But any place is up for grabs. Conte, who has already warned his players that it is his way or the highway, brings the expectation that anybody can break through this season.
Impressing in pre-season, youngster Ola Aina will relish that opportunity. He was fortunate to get a few starts during the preparations ahead of our new campaign, as our main right-back Branislav Ivanovic injured his shoulder before our tour in the United States.
Against AC Milan, Aina was handed the spotlight of the game, as his pace and athleticism was something new compared to our usual full-backs’ abilities. He kept Milan forward M’Baye Niang in his back pocket throughout the game, and was much more comfortable on the ball than Ivanovic. He even went close on scoring as he broke into the Italians box, firing a shot just wide from the post.
Find a full-back that can do both: defend, and score goals from the half-way line!
In the Liverpool game, Aina looked more like an experienced full-back who has spent two or three seasons in England’s top flight, not the raw 19-year-old who hasn’t made a competitive appearance for Chelsea yet. Ola was very assured on the ball and very composed off of it, as Chelsea proved impenetrable at the back, even after Cesc Fabregas was sent off.
It’s not only that. Aina, who is an England Under-20 international, has proved he has the versatility to excel on either side as a full-back and even at centre-back. As B/R’s Sam Tighe points out, Aina‘s ability to play anywhere across the back-line gives Conte the flexibility to tinker with things in an area that is relatively short of faces.
If Conte had to pick one youngster to make it in the first-team next season, that would be Aina. He can play where we, without doubt, need more than a few new players, and lowering the average age of our defensive line with him is the best Conte can do at the moment.
Chelsea are not off the transfer market just yet, but unless they fail to bolster the weakest link of our team, Ola Aina has to be given a chance.
