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Is Chelsea’s youth policy finally changing? The future of club and country

By Rupert Meadows

LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 27: The Chelsea team Captain Jake Clarke-Salter lifts the trophy as Chelsea win the FA Youth Cup Final - Second Leg between Chelsea and Manchester City at Stamford Bridge on April 27, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 27: The Chelsea team Captain Jake Clarke-Salter lifts the trophy as Chelsea win the FA Youth Cup Final - Second Leg between Chelsea and Manchester City at Stamford Bridge on April 27, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images) /
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chelsea, andreas christensen, lewis baker
SINGAPORE – JULY 23: (L-R) Andreas Christensen and Lewis Baker of Chelsea FC arrive at Jet Quay Private Terminal ahead of the International Champions Cup on July 23, 2017 in Singapore. (Photo by Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images for ICC) /

What’s next?

There’s still a long way to go. The next year and a half will prove how committed Chelsea are to starting a new project which promotes long-term success. Chelsea are right where they need to be.

The squad, on the whole, is young. Meanwhile, players are now coming back from loans to challenge for spots in Baker, Christensen, Boga and Musonda. Young players are going out on loan to challenge for next season in Abraham, Loftus-Cheek, Zouma, Brown and Palmer.

They also have incredibly talented players still within the youth ranks like Trevoh Chalobah, Dujon Sterling and Ike Ugbo. If they can show that returning players get opportunities, it promises to be an incredibly bright future for Chelsea.

Hopefully this future can leak into the England senior squad. Aaron Ramsdale, the young England and Bournemouth goalkeeper, alluded to this.

"We’ve got so much confidence. Half the team (England U19s) win every season with Chelsea, that massively makes a difference”. via – We Ain’t Got No History"

The country’s current youth teams thrive on having a Chelsea spine. If the opposite is achievable, whereby Chelsea’s first team in the next 5-10 years is able to develop an English spine, it can only prove beneficial for both club and country. Every club in the last two decades that has dominated over several years has done so with a strong backbone of internationals.

Think of Manchester United, Bayern Munich and Barcelona to name a few. Especially for the latter two, their club success has translated into the incredible success of their national squads. Spain’s dominance reached its height in their 2010 World Cup victory, coinciding with the pinnacle of Barcelona’s tiki-taka. Six of the starting eleven for Germany in the final of the 2014 World Cup were Bayern Munich players. Another, Mario Gotze, came on to score the winning goal.

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