Chelsea’s first transfer of the summer is already on the way in – Tosin Adarabioyo is going to join on a free transfer from Fulham.
Most Blues fans are pretty happy about the cheap way of replacing Thiago Silva in the depth chart. But top journalist Henry Winter sees it another way. He claims the players and academy staff producing stars like Trevoh Chalobah are “frustrated” to see another player imported from outside, negating all their hard work and leaving Chalobah in the out tray, ready to be sold on.
We wouldn’t be at all surprised if that’s true, and it will only grow harder to persuade the really young age groups to commit their future to us if they start thinking they’re only being seen as assets. We want to see the fruits of our academy thriving at Chelsea, not in Serie A or at Old Trafford.
You can see him make his point in the clip embedded here:
The reality is simple. Until Chelsea are able willing/able to commit long-term to a single footballing vision (a la City under Pep or Liverpool under Klopp) our academy may produce talent but it’s not a given that it will fit the first-team’s needs. There’s a reason Liverpool we’re able to slit teenagers into its ailing first-team in a cup final without missing a beat—it had been recruiting and developing talent to play in Klopp’s system for most of a DECADE! Chelsea may be turning out decent talent, but they’re not necessarily a fit for the new manager’s vision. Tosin is a player who reportedly is. It’s really that simple.