Chelsea’s youth far exceeded Alvaro Morata in playing time until age 20

Many of Chelsea’s young prospects had extensive senior-level playing time as teenagers compared to Alvaro Morata. Now, Morata is Chelsea’s record signing while many of those young players left Chelsea in search of Premier League minutes.

While few players from Chelsea’s loan system get a look in on the first team, they do not lack for playing time while away. Nathaniel Chalobah, Patrick Bamford and Bertrand Traore were among the Blues’ longest-serving loanees. All transferred from Chelsea in 2017.

Along with Nathan Ake (who also left) and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who is about to start his first loan, they offer an interesting comparison to the newest Blue, Alvaro Morata.

Alvaro Morata came up through Real Madrid’s academy system. Jose Mourinho brought Morata into the first-team at Real in 2010/11, when Morata was 17 years old. Morata’s playing minutes were in the single digits for his first two years with the first team squad, as he split his time with Real Madrid B.

At the same ages, Chalobah and Traore racked up thousands of minutes per season. Patrick Bamford at 18 years old finished his season on loan at MK Dons just shy of the 1000 minute mark.

At age 19, Morata’s playing time was on par with Nathan Ake, Traore and Loftus-Cheek. Traore and Loftus-Cheek spent the whole season at Chelsea, while Ake split the season between Chelsea and Reading. Chalobah and Bamford outstripped them all, playing on loan.

Alvaro Morata crept over the 500-minute mark for the first time as a 20-year old. He pulled ahead of Loftus-Cheek and Chalobah, who was on an unproductive loan to Napoli. However, Morata still lagged Bamford, Traore and Ake.

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Alvaro Morata’s 21st year was the watershed. His steady progression accelerated as he put in over 2000 minutes for his new club, Juventus. Meanwhile, a 21-year old Chalobah spent the whole season at Chelsea with only 159 minutes in 10 appearances. Bamford’s playing minutes decreased dramatically as he played in the Premier League for the first time. Ake had an active first half at Bournemouth, but played only 98 league minutes with Chelsea in the second half.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek’s teen years most closely resemble Alvaro Morata’s. The two players spent their entire youth career at the same club. They were in the squad but had very little playing time at 17 and 18 years old, but grew into the role as 19-year olds. Loftus-Cheek stalled a bit with all the changes around Antonio Conte’s arrival, while Morata continued his progression as a 20-year old.

Morata and the Chelsea youth provide contrasting approaches to the youth pipeline. Morata trained with the senior level and was part of the squad but still played most of his games with the youth team through his late teens. Chelsea players, on the other hand, leave the club to gain playing experience.

Of the four Chelsea loanees here, only Bertrand Traore spent his entire loan career in top-flight football: at Vitesse and Ajax in the Eredivisie, as well as at Chelsea. The other three spent at least one season in the Championship, and Bamford played several seasons in League One.

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Morata’s experience at Real Madrid – under Jose Mourinho, for added irony – seems to mimic Antonio Conte’s approach. Conte wanted Nathaniel Chalobah, in particular, to train and learn with the squad, and gradually build his way into the XI. Conte’s vision and promises were insufficient for Chalobah, who went to Watford for more immediate consistent playing time.

On the other hand, Ruben Loftus-Cheek is the exception that proves the rule at Chelsea. His progression mimicked Morata’s for the first three years. But where Morata’s career took off, Loftus-Cheek’s did not. Either his progression stalled or Chelsea’s promises fell flat.

Now that he is on loan to Crystal Palace, his career is a hybrid (Frankenstein?) of the two approaches. Under either system, he is at the age where he should be coming into a regular spot on the pitch. Instead he is starting the process that most of his peers did in their teens. Meanwhile those same peers are leaving Chelsea after concluding they had no first-team future.

Managerial turnover plays a major role in a club’s ability to keep long-term promises to their youth, and in the players’ willingness to believe them. Alvaro Morata worked with Jose Mourinho early in Mourinho’s time at Real Madrid, before Mourinho’s “three year rule” was a Law of the Game. Morata had more reason to believe and trust Mourinho and Real than any Chelsea youth player of the last few years has to trust the club or whichever manager.

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However, Chelsea’s youth staff and the development policy have been relatively stable. The persistence of the loan policy implies that someone at Stamford Bridge thinks it is effective. That the loan army has produced any number of transfers but no first-team regulars furthers the argument that the academy’s job is to produce sales and profits, not Blues.

All data from Transfermarkt.