Europa League can have a silver lining for Chelsea youth and manager

Chelsea are almost certain to be in the Europa League next year. It is a less than ideal situation but the club can find the silver lining.

No one wants to be in the Europa League given the choice between it and the Champions League. It is an auxiliary competition much like the League Cup. It is not there for the big clubs but for the also rans or almost theres.

That being said, it can be a useful training ground like the League Cup often is for clubs. All of the other clubs in the top six, bar Manchester City, have had a Europa League campaign in recent seasons. In different ways, it has helped them improve over the long term by taking a step backwards in the short term.

The obvious gain is at least six extra matches against European opponents. Generally, those opponents are going to be of lesser quality than Chelsea. This will allow for rotation, giving players who otherwise would have struggled for playing time.

That lack of games to rotate for hurt Chelsea last season. Nathan Ake, Nathaniel Chalobah, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Kurt Zouma and Kenedy all were at the club but found playing time hard to come by. All are now gone (either permanently or on loan). Europa League fixtures could have offered them substantial minutes when they were available.

Both Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United have huge examples of using the Europa League in such a way. Harry Kane and Marcus Rashford made their first team debuts in the competition. Both have kicked on to be some of England’s best players.

Spurs also gave Harry Winks his debut in the competition and Arsenal have used Ainsley Maitland-Niles almost exclusively in the Europa League. Neither have hit the realms of Kane or Rashford but they were given minutes that otherwise may not have been there.

Without Champions League, Chelsea will find recruitment difficult. But they could take a page out of their rivals playbooks and dip into their loan army and academy. Without Europa League, Kane and Rashford could have been much lesser players. Chelsea could dig a gem out of the previously mentioned players or utilize Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ethan Ampadu similarly.

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Whoever is manager could also use the competition. Jurgen Klopp used his first six months and a run to the Europa League final to analyze his squad and give them extra reps with his style. That helped them greatly the next season as they continued to grow under Klopp.

And Jose Mourinho took his Manchester United side all the way to winning the Europa League. For a club that had struggled in recent seasons, winning any trophy was helpful. They are solidly in the top four for the first time in years after having some wind put into their sales.

Whoever is Chelsea manager next season could find the competition similarly helpful. Chelsea are about to enter a rebuild phase the likes of which has not been seen since 2003. If it is Antonio Conte, who could dig into the so far unseen part of the squad and see who has it and who does not. A new manager could use it the way Klopp did while also analyzing the unseen players.

Again, no one chooses to be in the Europa League when the alternative is Champions League. But it does not have to be doom and gloom on Thursday nights. Chelsea can use the competition to play the long game. They can build on it by giving players chances that otherwise would have been rare.

The major issue is that Chelsea have been playing a short game compared to their rivals’ long one. Chelsea has youth on par with their rivals but are reluctant to use them even when the option is there. Conte has given them more minutes than almost any Chelsea manager but at times he is hesitant. A new manager would be a reset button on the situation.

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Chelsea can find a silver lining in Europa League. But they need to do so with their eyes three or four years after it. The rivals did so and improved for it. Chelsea must do the same.