This week has seen various rumours and confirmations of young Chelsea players that grew up playing in our youth academy, either leave the club, or looking close to leaving.
Marc Guehi joined Crystal Palace on a permanent deal, and now it looks like Chelsea could lose both Lewis Bate and Tino Livramento just to name a couple.
Please take a moment to check out my own Chelsea News website, bringing you the latest inside information, weekly Podcasts, and all your general Chelsea news. All FREE content, and FREE to subscribe here!
Whilst yes this is very frustrating for us fans, with these players having so much potential and I am sure they will come back to haunt us. However, I want to address the lazy conclusions being branded around by too many.
These players do not have weak mentalities, in fact, it is quite the opposite. These players want to play football regularly for a Premier League club, and they don’t see a quick route in to that at Chelsea right now and who can blame them? When players like Billy Gilmour are ahead of Bate and even he has had to go out on loan, what chances does Bate see to make it at Chelsea? None at all is the answer.
Livramento could have seen slightly more of an opportunity due to the way Thomas Tuchel lined up with wing backs last season, but even still, he will still be seeing Chelsea linked with players like Achraf Hakimi and Adama Traore and conclude that they still clearly want a right sided player in his position.
They are choosing settled regular football, rather than the instability of life in the loan army for the next few years, and I don’t blame them at all. They will be looking at failed previous loan army guys such as Lewis Baker and other such players, how many of them have actually come back to Chelsea and been successful?
Yes you have Reece James, Mason Mount, and Tammy Abraham, but that was in a season with a transfer ban and a manager who was clearly and advocate of youth and an assistant manager who had coached and knew them all very well. That opportunity isn’t likely to arrive again anytime soon.
Chelsea are a business first, and they MUST challenge for titles, this is why the pathway into the first-team is so difficult. Some will make it, but very few, certainly not all out talented youth players will make it into the senior squad, it’s impossible. It’s hard to swallow at time though I admit that, but that just comes with playing in the youth academy of one of the top teams in the world.
