John Terry will not be part of Chelsea for the first time in 20 years. Chelsea should commit themselves to developing more players from the academy to the first team.
For the first time since the 1990s Chelsea will not have an academy graduate playing regularly in their first team. Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Nathaniel Chalaboh and Nathan Ake are in the squad, but they will likely not feature in the starting XI. In fact, there is no guarantee they will be part of the team once the season starts.
For the past 17 years, John Terry was the answer for Chelsea fans to rivals’ taunts that the Blues could only buy their stars. With Terry gone, those taunts will return soon enough. But this time, Chelsea fans will not have a solid answer.
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Last season was a positive step towards seeing academy prospects in the senior team. Rather than just playing for last few minutes, many of those appearances were for significant amounts of time. It was a positive step, but still not enough.
Chelsea’s return to European competition means there will be more matches to play. A good run in the domestic cups will also provide games. This will open more chances for the youngsters to feature in the senior team.
The stiffness of competition in the Premier League and Europe results in clubs preferring established players over untested, less-developed youth. This has been often the case at Chelsea. Big clubs need big names to show they intend to go as far as they can in every competition they enter.
Chelsea’s academy is one of the best, if not the best in Europe. They have won six of the last eight FA Youth Cups and the last two UEFA Youth Leagues. They have some of the top talent in England, as further demonstrated by the number of young Blues who play for England in the Toulon Tournament and U21 EUROs.
The trick for Chelsea is to use them effectively. Having an academy graduate as a regular in the team will save the club millions in the transfer market. It will also have a special effect on the fans to see an academy prospect as a regular in the team.
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The talent is there and one of Antonio Conte’s biggest challenge is to use them in the senior team properly. He is more than capable of doing so. He and the club simply need the will and determination to make this a priority.