FanPost

MAKING THE GRADE; IS IT FEASIBLE?

Why can’t a club like Chelsea have their youth products transition to the first team as easily as other clubs?

Because of one word: Success

At a club like Chelsea where everything but champions is considered a failure there is no room for experiments. Every fan dreams that coming may 24 2015 John Terry will be holding the Premier League trophy and putting Chelsea’s name back where it belongs; Premier League champions. Although, we as fans are the most demanding in the country and expect silverware every season we still want our team to be economically dependent and not fall under FFP. Over the years Chelsea has been known for wasting exuberate amounts of money on players and for every Hazard or Lampard who now look like a steal considering what we paid for them, there will always be a Fernando Torres or Andriy Shevchenko who haunt our finances down. Chelsea is constantly competing on at least four fronts so to be able to compete and be among the best teams in the world, squad depth is essential and here is where the debate in relation to the academy arises; be honest who would you rather have playing against Manchester United if Terry and Cahill got injured? Would you rather have a paring of Ivanovic and Kourt Zouma or give young Andreas Christensen his debut?

The answer is obviously Ivanovic and Kourt Zouma because although Zouma is a young man he has all the experience of playing on France’s first division for the past season. Experience is key in football and even if many on this site including myself consider Christensen a brighter prospect than Zouma he just doesn’t have the experience to take down RVP. It is true that having Zouma in front of him will hinder his development and make his chances of breaking into the team diminish, but we know there is no better man at making decisions based on performances than Jose. He has no favorite player and even if he causes a major upset, like he did in Madrid with Casillas, he will make decisions purely based on performances and not on what fans and the press says.

In recent times many fans including myself have said; why go out and splash so much money on a one game wonder like Salah or Willian? But it all goes down to squad depth. Instead of those two players we could have given a squad place to Lewis Baker and Jeremie Boga and all the fans would have been delited and more excited than ever, but being sincere would those two players make a significant difference if we send them to the field in the semifinal on the Champions league when chasing a game? No, they wouldn’t; they would be terrified because they have never experienced that sort of pressure before. Players like Willian and Salah may not be world-beaters yet or may never be but they have something that youth products don’t have and that is experience.

How do we get this youth team hotshots to make the step into the first team and gain this valuable experience that will alow them to succeed? There is no obvious answer and that is why we have had so many players not make the grade at a team as competitive as ours. Nevertheless, those who say Chelsea is a graveyard for youngsters are speaking nonsense.

For every Gael Kakuta who cant even make the first team at Lazio there is a Scott Sinclair or Fabio Borini who go on to have very successful careers on clubs that are still on the elite leagues of Europe’s but don’t have standards set so high as Chelsea. Chelsea can not afford another trophy less season and that is why even if we do have great prospects at Cobham like Lewis Baker, Ruen Loftus-Cheek, Izzy Brown among others who are wating to get their chance the odds of more than three making the grade in the next two years are very little.

This youth players want to play week in and week out because they know that by the time they turn 22 it is make or break for them. Either they make it as first team regulars at Chelsea or they go on to lesser teams.

This is where the loan policy comes in, Chelsea have their top prospects such as Lucas Piazon or Patrick Bamford and their loan moves are chosen carefully but they also have other players like George Saville that have no future at the club and they will just be used as a way of earning money. For this reason Chelsea have over 30 players on loan, some will make the grade and move to the first team after gaining purposeful and valuable experience while others are just there to help balance the clubs books when they are sold latter for a profit.

In conclusion, for a club like Chelsea where second best is not appropriate, the risk of transitioning youth players into the first team is to high. For this to happen the player has make the best of the opportunities that arise when they go on loan and look to gain that experience that will differentiate them from the rest and allow them to be ready for big games. After a successful year on loan this players need to come back to Cobham and prove the manager that they are better than any squad depth player that they have around and that they have developed the experience and character required to succeed at the higher level. This will not only save Chelsea million of dollars and allow them to complay with FFP better but it will also allow us to be a more attractive option to younger players who are afraid they wont make the first team.

Even though, many will fail on their route to the first team we at Chelsea ensure that this young professionals can go on to a successful career, so contrasting what others say Chelsea is one of the best places for a young player to develop.

This FanPost was contributed by a member of the community and was not subject to any sort of approval process. It does not necessarily reflect the opinions held by the editors of this site.

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