Former Chelsea goal-scoring hero and current youth coach impressed by Dominic Solanke's game

Tore Andre Flo knows a thing or two about goals.  In over 500 professional games, he scored around 200 of them.  Sure, that's not the most outrageous goal return ever, but considering his 6'4" frame, the 50 from 163 in a Chelsea shirt was not bad.  He may not have been the first player to inspire the line "good feet for a big man," but Flonaldo was certainly one of the most apt for it.

Flo hung up his playing boots in 2012 and a year later he was back at Chelsea as a youth coach (he also runs a youth academy in his native Norway).  While there is not much publicly available information regarding his exact role in the Chelsea academy, he had been one of the people in charge of tracking Patrick Bamford's development on loan and now here he is talking about Dominic Solanke.  So quite likely, he's concentrating on working with forwards, but maybe these two are just isolated examples.  In any case, to the quotes!

"He takes things the right way. He doesn't get big-headed, he keeps his feet on the ground and of course he's very good going forward. Dominic also works really hard and young players need to do that, especially if they want to get into Jose Mourinho's team."

"He's got a very good physique and I think he's got great touch on the ball. He's quick but often what impresses me the most is when he looks like he's lost the ball, he somehow manages to get out with the ball, no matter how tight the situation is or how difficult it looks."

"But it's vital he continues to keep his feet on the ground and work hard every day. There is still a long way to go for Dominic even though he has done really well for the youth team. I just wish him the best and hope he can someday become a regular player at Chelsea."

-Tore Andre Flo; source: Sky Sports

The club's Youth Player of the Year for 2014-15 certainly has a ton of promise and after two stand-out years in the academy, he should be ready for the next challenge.  Solanke's not alone in that regard of course, so this, as ever, will most likely not be a straightforward process.  We can only hope for the best.  First up for the 17-year-old:  the post-season tour with the rest of the Chelsea first-team and quite a few other academy hopefuls.