The Chelsea youth traffic jam is coming faster than expected

Frank Lampard has been great for the youth at Chelsea this season. But now there is a traffic jam forming for the youth against each other.

Many think that Barcelona’s academy is not what it used to be. After all, how does an academy go from forging the likes of Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, and Cesc Fabregas to having few if any academy players breaking into the first team?

The answer is in the question. For every young player that breaks into the first team, that is one less first team spot. So the next academy player coming up cannot be just as good as the first teamer; they need to be even better. The class that came after Messi’s may have been elite, but they were not better than Messi so they had no chance at the first team.

Now that Chelsea’s academy is getting use, this same problem is already showing up at Chelsea, albeit on a different scale. With Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham, Reece James, and Fikayo Tomori solidly in the first team, the next class needs to be even better to make it. The traffic jam has begun.

Take Andreas Christensen for example. He was arguably Chelsea’s first academy break through since John Terry. But he has barely played this season as he has been usurped by Tomori. He could still be elite, but it becomes harder with Tomori blocking his path at Chelsea now.

Tariq Lamptey has been Chelsea’s most recent debut. Able to play anywhere on the wing, he is probably ultimately going to land at the full back position. Unfortunately, he has James ahead of him there. So either Lamptey shows he can perform better than James, one or the other moves to a different position to make way, or he falls off to the bench.

This can even dip into the loan army. Conor Gallagher has been doing excellently on loan and is now having Premier League interest for the back half of the season. But where does he fit at Chelsea?

Gallagher can play almost any midfield position and on the wings. But can he push Mount or Callum Hudson-Odoi out of the way? That will be the question for when he ultimately returns to Chelsea.

All this is not to even mention Ruben Loftus-Cheek, perhaps the academy player most have held the longest hope for. When he returns (and if he returns as he was), what does that mean for the Chelsea first team? Then what does it mean for the academy player trying to fight their way in over the Englishman?

Mind, this is not a bad problem to have but it is a problem. Hudson-Odoi submitted a transfer request a year ago because he did not see a path to the first team. While that path is there now, if it is blocked off by young promising players it remains to be seen who wins out and how long the academy player is willing to fight with one of their young colleagues for minutes.

Chelsea will need to navigate their way through this issue as they move forward with the youth revolution. It is not at Barcelona under Pep Guardiola levels yet, but that is not to say it might not reach that point soon. Traffic jams are already popping up and Frank Lampard needs to drive his way through it as best as he can.