Chelsea’s youth revolution came too late for two players. They can still make it, but time and numbers are no longer their allies.
The youth revolution is generally assumed to have begun with Frank Lampard. Like every other revolution in history, that is not quite true. Revolutions tend to have echoes before they actually start proper and that is the case at Chelsea as well.
After John Terry, their was a great lull in youth coming through at Chelsea. One player, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, was often regarded as the next one through the door. For various reasons, that never quite materialized. Andreas Christensen, meanwhile signed with Chelsea late in his youth career but still plenty early enough to be considered youth. Both found they had to go out on loan to find their way into the Chelsea first team and, before Lampard came in, they found themselves breaking through.
Unfortunately for both, the revolution proper appears to have come too late for them. They both broke through but for various reasons fell back out of favor. Maybe if they were a few years younger they would have seen the chances Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham, and Reece James are currently getting. But that isn’t how their story goes.
Loftus-Cheek’s story has been going on the longest. He was seemingly being groomed to assume the mantle of Frank Lampard for Jose Mourinho, but despite the praise of the Portuguese manager, it never really manifested. Interim manager Guus Hiddink couldn’t find many opportunities for him either. Perhaps the strangest turn of events came with Antonio Conte viewing Loftus-Cheek as a striker. Maybe that wasn’t the worst idea, but Conte quickly gave up on his 4-4-2/4-2-3-1 hybrid for the 3-4-3, leaving Loftus-Cheek behind.
A loan to Crystal Palace seemed like Loftus-Cheek’s only chance to finally find playing time. While it started poorly with Frank De Boer, it ended wonderfully with Roy Hodgson. Loftus-Cheek even missed months of the winter through injury but still rebounded to become one of England’s most important players in the World Cup.
Maurizio Sarri took a liking to Loftus-Cheek more and more over the course of his season. Seemingly, the English midfielder had finally made it. Then injury struck and Loftus-Cheek lost a year during one of the most crucial periods of his development. Needing playing time to fully recover, he’s been loaned out to Fulham. It is not going well, but even if it were, it is becoming more crowded in the Chelsea midfield to find space for a 24 year old with, admittedly, as little playing time as he has over the course of his career.
Christensen’s trajectory was much steadier until it very much wasn’t anymore. His very first loan was a massive one to Gladbach. It was, in hindsight, the most ambitious and successful loan Chelsea’s every done. After two fantastic years in Germany, the Dane returned to Conte’s Chelsea and immediately found himself in the starting XI as the key member of the back three. All was well until one mistake against Barcelona seemingly ruined whatever ability and confidence he had.
Seriously, Christensen has never been the same player as he was before that Barcelona mistake. By the end of that season, even Conte wasn’t playing him. The following season under Sarri, David Luiz was preferred despite being the example of “liability” in the dictionary. Lampard has tried to give him runs of games but ultimately he is struggling to include Christensen in his plans.
Both these players are 24 now, too old to really be a part of the current youth revolution. They did, however, wave the flag for the youth before the revolution truly began. Had they been younger, maybe now they would be finding their feet at Chelsea. That just isn’t what’s happening though. Both helped to break through the ceiling to let others through, but they themselves appear to be facing a new ceiling without the benefit of time like before.