I think it's actually becoming surprisingly effective, though some of the sales are a little odd. Selling De Bruyne because Courtois shagged his missus was a highlight!
Honestly, I think its a joke the way you treat your young players. Fair enough, some aren't good enough, but you've gotten rid of the likes of De Bruyne, Bertrand, Matic etc. without even giving them a chance only for them to develop into class players. Fair enough you got Matic back, but even then you had to pay, what, £25m to get him back? The likes of Mceachran and Kakuta have also had their careers stalled completely.
But none of those other players were being bigged up as the 3rd best striker in the world (the OP) I was only jesting anyway.
To a degree I have defer to the management and coaches at Chelsea, they watched them train everyday and know more about the relative qualities of the players than I or any other football fan. But it has gotten to the point that a few eyebrows are raised on certain sales. Hazard and De Bruyne were two such instances. McEeachran I don't think will cut it, Kakuta I doubt too. I just hope they learnt from the Matic debacle that they put buyback clauses in the contracts when they sell these guys.
The best striker in the world, not third. Messi and Ronaldo aren't strikers. Can you not play down Kane's awesome majesty, please?
Mceachran and Kakuta were hyped as the next big things though. Surely there's an issue in that Chelsea as a club don't seem to be able to facilitate these players making the transition from promising young player to first team player. Look at Loftus-Cheek now for example. The same thing that happened to Mceachran's going to happen to him.
You obviously have a massive hard on for us at the moment but I really can't see why you care. - De Bruyne fell out with Jose, only one winner. He ultimately went from Genk to Wolfsberg via us whilst maintaining a decent international career in theprocess, so hardly stalled. We also made a tidy profit on him. - Bertrand was not deemed quite good enough and didn't want to sit on the bench behind Cole and now Dave. He's about 26 now as well, so hardly young. I'm sure the C.L medal softens the blow though. - Matic is easy to look at on hindsight. How many players progress so quickly from average to top class in 2 seasons? Mceachran and Kakuta I had high hopes for. But they've both had some spells elsewhere and hardly pulled up any trees. Sometimes the players have to take some responsibility and take their chances when they come. Don't get me wrong, we need to do more to promote our good young players though.
Bertrand is good enough for Chelsea though. Your manager preferred a 30 year old Brazilian tho Because there is literally no point in you having an academy as you don't ever use any of the players produced by it.
Well we are making millions of pounds worth of sales from it. #effeffpee Besides, every PL club has an academy. But I would like to see the odd player from it come into our squad and make a real impact. To your first point about Bertrand being good enough, as someone who, I hope watches Chelsea more than you do, I can say that he is not as good as our current options. The Chelsea management obviously agreed. I thought he was a decent 2nd stringer, but the lad wanted first team football so....fair play to him.
That 30 year old Brazilian also sits on the bench most weeks, which Bertrand didn't want to do and he is nowhere near Dave's level. Bertrand's has had a good season but looked average on loan at Villa last year so I can see why Chelsea wanted a more established full back brought in. Luis was brilliant at A.M last year. Re the academy, more than one way to skin a cat. We might not promote many but we sell a few, make money on them etc. Our youth policy rightly or wrongly seems largely to service FFP.
Chelsea do promote up if the player is good enough. I forget his name but what about that CB they have now. You know, the new Desailly or whatever? He looks quality and has got a fair few games this season. Once Terry bites the dust he'll replace him. The issue is the further up the food chain you are the better quality your youth players have to be to get into the team versus buying someone for £30m+. Kane probably wouldn't have made it into the Chelsea team this season.
You mean Zouma? He will become a first XI player, though we did technically buy him as a teenager though. He didnt come through the academy as a nipper, like say McEachran or Bertrand
Think you're a little bit off there if you do mean Zouma, Spurm. That'd be like us claiming that Eriksen was a Spurs youth product. He cost less, for a start.
Thats the one. I knew it was a name that reminded me of 24 for some reason, not sure why. Doesn't that still count? We bought Lennon, Hudd etc Until the last 1.5 years we had virtually nobody come through from being a nipper to first team apart from Ledley Ok fair enough, didn't realise he cost a lot
The trouble is if you can sign a player for £30mill that is "better" then you will. Bertrand played in the CL final and deserved a chance to take over from Cole, in my opinion. I wouldn't dismiss players like McEarchran flat out as it wasn't long ago our fans would've said the same about Mason or Kane. I think the problem is that Mourinho wants complete players, they have to be able to park the bus, as well as attack. You don't get many complete players at 20/21/22, it comes with experience. Just look at Hazard, he was one of the most highly rated youngsters in Europe when Chelsea signed him and it wasn't good enough for Mourinho, who likes more rounded players, and he had to change to fit in. I can't see it changing unless Abramovich wants the club to become self-sufficient and get Jose to either change or leave so they can bring in a manager that will develop players rather than add the final coat of gloss.
Bertrand wasn't that much of a nipper when you 'acquired' him either, as he was in the Gillingham academy until he was just under 16
This belief that Chelsea don`t give youngsters a chance no longer holds true, over the last 3/4 seasons quite a few have played the odd first team game and are now names i recognise. If you want a club that really freezes youth out look at Manchester City, can anyone name a member of their "elite development squad" that has played in the first team?
Like who? Look at their first team and which players from their famous youth academy are in it? Other than Terry, there's no one. They just ship them out on loan and sell them to mid table clubs when they have some sort of reputation in order to buy 27-30 years olds for their first team. It's a shame that they use them in this way.
