Chelsea: Jody Morris’ record sadly safe as Maurizio Sarri is yet to debut anyone

Callum Hudson-Odoi became the youngest England player to debut in a competitive match when he came on for the final 20 minutes against the Czech Republic. Chelsea are unlikely to break any such records this season.

Most of the records on the books in Chelsea’s 114-year history were broken and reset over the 15 years of the Roman Abramovich era. One record, though, predates the Russian’s arrival and has a legacy that could take on extra meaning over the next few years.

Jody Morris remains the youngest player to make his first-team debut in the Premier League with Chelsea. On February 12, 1996, with Chelsea leading Middlesbrough 5-0 at Stamford Bridge, Glenn Hoddle sent Morris on in the 70′. Callum Hudson-Odoi just missed breaking the record, as he debuted in the Premier League one month and 10 days older than Morris was.

In one of those strange quirks of football, Ethan Ampadu debuted six weeks before Hudson-Odoi did, and was only four days older at the time. Had Antonio Conte tabbed Hudson-Odoi for the lineup that day instead of Ampadu, Hudson-Odoi would have overtaken Morris. Alas, Antonio Conte named Charly Musonda, Jr., as the young backup winger that day against Huddersfield. Morris’ record remains intact, followed by Hudson-Odoi and – right behind him – Ampadu.

Maurizio Sarri has not given any players their first-team debut this season, not even in the domestic cups. If he keeps to this pattern (Narrator: He keeps to every pattern), Chelsea will finish the season without a senior-level debutante in the Premier League for the first time since the 2011/12 season.

In four of the last six seasons, Chelsea already had a player make his senior debut by this point on the calendar.

Jose Mourinho waited until the last minute of the season (seriously, the 89′ of matchweek 38) to send on John Swift and check the box for 2013/14. He was not able to wait that long in the 2015/16. Mourinho was sacked before debuting anyone in the Premier League, but Guus Hiddink saw to it with Jake Clarke-Salter on April 2, 2016.

Maurizio Sarri seems wholly uninterested in keeping the streak alive – not for historical purposes, not for player development purposes, certainly not for club and fan satisfaction purposes.

Part of his overall lack of understanding of the football mentality among players, clubs and fans alike is the power of introducing youth players to the top of the game. A seemingly token gesture can go a long way when it leads everyone to think the coach is thinking about the club beyond just his current season. Like when a player kisses the badge after scoring, it can be pooh-poohed as symbolic, but symbols work for a reason.

Jody Morris’ record-setting debut was his only first-team appearance of the season, but he went on to play in 160 games for Chelsea (136 in the Premier League) before playing in the Championship and Scottish Premiership. He then returned to Stamford Bridge as a youth coach, took his first senior coaching job as Frank Lampard’s assistant at Derby County.

Morris is now swirled into the managerial rumours both for this season and the eventual return of Lampard and / or John Terry as coaches.

He regularly vents his frustration – with professional subtlety, of course – over Maurizio Sarri’s dismissive posture towards the youth players. If Morris returns to Chelsea, he will have multiple incentives for some young player to break his record. First, he worked with many of the players coming through the youth system. He will feel more accomplished and be rated higher as a coach if his youth players become first-team players before their peers.

Second, he knows how important it is for the club, the team and the individual player to debut as a teenager. He will want to pay forward the experience he had as a 17-year old and share it with another generation of Chelsea fans and players.

Third, no one likes to sit on a record for very long. Records are there to be broken, and in sports, a long-standing record can be a sign of stagnation as much as a sign of greatness. This is not like Frank Lampard’s goal record or anything that is amassed by a single player over decades. This record is overdue to fall.

Maurizio Sarri is uninterested in making that happen. Fortunately, most of the candidates to replace him will be excited to see Jody Morris dropped into second place on this particular list.