The Chelsea youth are long past due for their step up

There is a fear that comes with entrusting so many minutes to the youth next season. Chelsea’s youth have long been special and are due their chance.

Many are pessimistic about next season thanks to the transfer ban and a new (“inexperienced”) manager coming in. Much of the pessimism comes back towards the youth that Chelsea will have to trust next year. The old adage of “you never win anything with kids” is often brought up as the lesser of the abuses.

But Chelsea’s kids have long been special. That is a large part of why there has been so much frustration among the youth and their supporters. The baby Blues have been dominant not just domestically, but worldwide in the last five years. Many of those kids are no longer kids as they prepare to make their step up into the Chelsea first team. It is long past due.

Callum Hudson-Odoi and Ruben Loftus-Cheek have already laid down a marker and are expected to slot right back in when they return to fitness. Andreas Christensen should be a fixture next season. Joining them, at a minimum, will be Reece James, Mason Mount, and Tammy Abraham returning from loan as well as Ethan Ampadu.

Between them, they have six FA Youth Cups, two UEFA Youth Leagues, two U18 Premier Leagues, the U17 World Cup, the Toulon Tournament, the UEFA U19 Championship, and many, many more trophies. They have quite simply won pretty much everything available at some point in the last decade.

Most importantly, many young players that are now household names were defeated by these Chelsea players. Many of the Ajax youth the world is currently enthralled by fell to Chelsea’s youth for instance. The problem with the baby Blues has never been talent but opportunity.

When clubs such as Ajax or Monaco were able to build around their core of youth, Chelsea either blocked their path, loaned them out, or never attempted to use them. Many things can happen between youth level and senior football that causes the best players to fall off compared to the peers they once beat regularly. That is what has kept happening at Chelsea. Just skim through Jody Morris’ Twitter and it will not take long to see how frustrated he got as the coach of these players.

Of course there is a risk trusting youth with first team minutes. But Chelsea’s youth were never just the average youth players. They were the cream of the crop but they were never brought to harvest. The ban is forcing Chelsea’s hand and likely the next managerial appointment will be done with the youth in mind.

Fans should not worry about trusting Mount or James or Abraham with starts just as their fears about Hudson-Odoi and Loftus-Cheek quickly faded away. These kids were the best among their peers for a reason. They can be the best among them again if given the chance. It is a risk to trust them but one well worth taking and one that is far more likely to work than not.