Chelsea are taking a lot of flak (and quite rightly so) for their treatment of the academy at the moment. Far too many Cobham produced players are being underrated, underused and then sold off to pay for our endless speculation on other talents from other places.
The club know this is a growing criticism, so of course they’re happy to wind up their PR machine when they get the chance. Two top talents are on the USA tour, and today’s feature on the club’s official website is all about them.
Making it from Cobham to the top
It’s basically a first person stream of consciousness from young defender Josh Acheampong, but in among the platitudes about being happy to be there are loving working with the new manager is some really sweet stuff about what it’s like being on the tour with fellow Cobham graduate Tyrique George, another potential star the club and us fans are desperately excited about:
“It’s also been great having Tyrique here. Not only are we friends when we are here, away from Chelsea when we were younger we used to train together – sometimes in a group, sometimes just us two. It’s good to have a friend who has been on the journey with you. We can talk about things and reminisce,” George commented.
His quotes also make it clear how valuable it is for these young academy players to see a pathway to the first team forged by people in a similar position:
“Seeing where Reece [James] has come from, through the Academy like me and Tyrique [George], to now being captain of Chelsea is inspiring. He understands what we’re going through. He’s really helpful.”
We hope the club are watching and listening to their own PR guff right now – they’re literally being told to their faces how important it is for the future to make sure there’s a steady progression of home grown players into the first team.
Chelsea should be ashamed of themselves , the way they have treated the academy players , Mount was the first one to be treated unfairly , player of the year two years running , been at Chelsea since he was six made it into the first team , also became an England regular , then the owner’s disrespected him and he had no option but to leave , now they are doing the same thing with Chalobah and Gallagher two players who have been there from being eight year olds , and love the club , hang your heads in shame you no nothing about football American owners.