Chelsea have recently started heavily investing in their youth and some very talented players have come through their academy.
The last Chelsea player to successfully make the move from the academy to the first team and secure a starting spot is current skipper, John Terry. On the other hand there are players that have made the step up but have failed to secure spots. A more modern example is Nathan Ake, he went through Chelsea’s youth academy after joining from Feyenoord at the age of 17. The problem with Ake is that he is still not part of the Blues starting XI, but the future looks bright for him as he has not been loaned out and is still part of the first team. An example of a failed academy product is Ryan Bertrand, after Ashley Cole departed he should have been the rightful heir to the left-back position. Instead Chelsea, as always, went out and bought an experienced player like Filipe Luis. There are other talented Chelsea youngsters who have been loaned out for the upcoming season, such as Thorgan Hazard, Lucas Piazon, Bertrand Traore, Kenneth Omeruo, etc… Here are 3 Chelsea youth players who should be given a shot at some first team action this upcoming, hopefully title-winning, season.
Patrick Bamford
Patrick Bamford is a typical target-man: he has great movement in the box; his ability to move around and make runs is beyond his years. He is physically gifted and his hold-up play is strong. Bamford signed for Chelsea in 2012 for a fee of £1.5million from fellow English team Nottingham Forest. When he first started playing for the Chelsea reserves team alongside Romelu Lukaku, he did so on the wings. However, he was sometimes to positioned in the “Number Nine” role. Since then he has gone on many loans. In November 2012, he was loaned out to MK Dons. In his first loan spell to the Dons he scored four goals in 8 appearances. The following year, he was loaned out again to the Dons. In 30 matches he bagged 17 goals that season. His loan deal expired with MK Dons in January and he was subsequently loaned out to Championship title challenging team, Derby County. During his half-season loan to the Rams, he made 22 appearances(8 as a substitute) and scored fourteen goals during his time on the pitch. He helped get the Rams to the Championship Playoff-Final, where they lost to QPR (who now want him on loan for the upcoming season as per sportsmole.co.uk) after Bobby Zamora scored a stunner in the last minute to keep the Rams in the Championship. Now Bamford is back at Stamford Bridge, and having a magnificent pre-season. He scored against Wycombe Wanderers in Chelsea’s first pre-season match and has showed more intelligent movement and thinking in the past three pre-season games than Fernando Torres has in his entire time at Chelsea. Bamford should be part of the strikers rotation. Hopefully, the rotation will include Diego Costa and Romelu Lukaku for Premier League matches, Fernando Torres and Lukaku for FA Cup matches, and Bamford for all Capital One Cup matches. Allowing Bamford to lead the line for Capital One Cup match ups will allow him to play with the first team and give him invaluable experience. Furthermore, by playing with quality strikers such as Costa and Lukaku, he will learn other techniques as a striker. If Didier Drogba does return as a player/striking coach, Bamford’s development could skyrocket. Bamford has also featured for England’s youth teams.
Nathaniel Chalobah
Chalobah has been part of the youth team at Cobham since he was a child. He is yet to feature for Chelsea’s first-team, but he did travel with the first-team to Munich on the glorious day in which the Pensioners won their first ever Champions league and has been part of the English u-21 team. He has been on several loans to teams like Nottingham Forest, Watford, and Middlesbrough. He is a highly versatile player, being able to play in the defence or in the midfield. His performances with Watford helped guide them to a Championship play-off final against Crystal Palace, a game they sadly lost, much like Bamford while at Derby County. Now being 20 years old, he may be impatient with his lack of chances with the first team. Chalobah will be hoping to actually stay this season instead of being loaned out. The problem is, manager Jose Mourinho will likely want him to get playtime in the top tier this season. That will most likely mean he will get loaned out, as Chelsea have a plethora of talent in the middle of the park. He will most likely be sent to a newly promoted team, be it Burnley, Leicester, or QPR.
Lewis Baker
Lewis Baker is the Chelsea U-21 team captain and arguably the most technically gifted player in the U-21 Premier League winning, team. Chelsea’s official website describe Baker as “a two-footed creative and technical midfield player”. He has already featured for Chelsea’s first team in their 2-0 FA Cup win against Derby County. He was also an unused substitute in their Capital One Cup win against Swindon Town. Baker had an impressive season as captain of the u-21 team last season and it paid off as he was named Chelsea’s Youth Player of the Season. His goal against Arsenal’s u-21 team at the Emirates was also named goal of the season. It was a wondrous back-heel net-burner. He also scored the winning goal against Manchester United at Old Trafford, a goal which secured the Stamford Bridge team the U-21 Premier League title. He has featured for the Blues during their current pre-season campaign. He has also impressed the coaching staff by helping Chelsea win 3-2 against AFC Wimbledon, providing all three assist along the way. Lewis Baker is, in many people’s eyes, the rightful heir to Frank Lampard and potentially the most complete midfielder to play for Chelsea since Lampard began his career with the Blues. Lewis Baker has also featured for England’s youth by playing with their u-16, -17, -18, and -19 squads. I look for him to feature more for the Blues, especially for the COC and FA Cup alongside Chalobah and Bamford.
Thank you for reading. Please take a moment to follow me on twitter – @NenclaresLWOS. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport – and “liking” our Facebook page.
For the latest sports injury news, check out our friends at Sports Injury Alert.
Feel free to discuss this and other footy related articles with thousands of fans at /r/football.
All Stats via Chelseafc.com
Main Photo:
