Debunking narratives (Part II): Chelsea doesn’t give youth chances

Chelsea is in the final stages of a potential agreement between itself and West Ham United for academy graduate Armando Broja. This news—along with the reports that former Huddersfield Town player Levi Colwill is likely to leave if the Blues buy more defenders—has led many fans to fall back to their prepared narrative: Chelsea doesn’t give the youth players chances.

This narrative is fueled by the fact that the Blues produce a lot of great young players. Broja was on loan to Southampton last season and scored six league goals, registering zero assists in 32 games, 21 of which he started. For a player that is just coming into the Premier League, and at 19 years old, that is OK. Colwill played 29 games last season for Championship club Huddersfield Town, he scored two goals, made one assist and kept 11 clean sheets. He has good defensive and aerial numbers. Taking these statistics into account, why then are the Blues not giving the pair of youngsters a chance in the first team ahead of next season?

That’s not the question to ask, because who says they aren’t? It’s important to note that getting games for Huddersfield and Southampton is easier than getting minutes for Chelsea, which is easier than getting time for Real Madrid. For context, top players like Eduardo Camavinga and Rodrygo were coming off the bench for Los Blancos in the Champions League. If they had been at clubs not of Real Madrid’s stature, they would probably start most games. As much as Pedri has been touted as a superb player, he only played 12 league games for FC Barcelona last season. This should give you an idea as to how difficult it is to give and to get playing time at Chelsea. It often has little to do with a love for, or hate for, the player himself.

Chelsea gives youth chances, the narrative saying otherwise is misguided

That said, many fans cry and groan at how far the gap is between the Blues, Liverpool and Manchester City. Chelsea finished 18 points behind Liverpool and 19 points behind the Citizens. That’s a lot of points. Thus, many want Chelsea to catch up, and they often clamor for the Blues to imitate their Manchester and Merseyside counterparts. Let’s take a look at how well those two sides integrate academy graduates and how much they’ve suffered for it.

For Man City, in the 2020/21 season, Phil Foden played 28 league games, Eric Garcia and Liam Delap played one game each. Foden was injured for zero league games. In the 2021/22 season, Foden played 28 league games again, Cole Palmer played four games, James McAtee played two games, CJ Egan-Riley, Kayky and Delap played one game each. Foden was injured for three games and Palmer was injured for eight games.

For Liverpool, in the 2020/21 season, Trent Alexander-Arnold played 36 games, Nat Phillips played 17 games, Joe Gomez played seven games, Rhys Williams played nine games, Neco Williams played six games and Caoimhin Kelleher played two games. Of course, the minutes given to Gomez, Phillips and Williams were tied to the fact that Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and even makeshift centerbacks Jordan Henderson and Fabinho, were injured for significant portions of the season. In the 2021/22 campaign, Alexander-Arnold played 32 league games, Jones played 15 games, Gomez played eight games, Harvey Elliott played six games, Kelleher played twice, Tyler Morton, Kaide Gordon and Williams played one each. Alexander-Arnold was injured for one game, Jones was injured for eight games, and Elliott was injured for 18 games.

For Chelsea, in the 2020/21 season, Mason Mount played 36 league games, Reece James played 32 games, Callum Hudson-Odoi played 23 games, Tammy Abraham played 22 games, Andreas Christensen played 17 games, Billy Gilmour played five games, Fikayo Tomori and Ruben Loftus-Cheek played one game each. James was injured for three games. In the 2021/22 season, Mount played 32 games, James played 26 games, Loftus-Cheek played 24 games, Trevoh Chalobah played 20 games, Christensen played 19 games and Hudson-Odoi played 15 games.

This comes to six established players from Chelsea’s academy used last season and eight academy players used the season before that. Hudson-Odoi had the lowest number of appearances amongst academy graduates last season at 15 appearances, and he was injured.

Despite the obvious trust that the Blues put in academy players that deserve it, many fans still complain that they don’t give chances to the youth. Many claim that promising academy players are leaving because they don’t see a pathway to the first team. Even more outrageous is some fans claim Thomas Tuchel hates young players. This, of course, is an accusation that has been levied against almost every manager except Frank Lampard, and in several cases, without basis.

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Of course, academy players don’t deserve minutes by virtue of being academy players. In reality, Chelsea doesn’t have a problem giving youth players a chance, but some youth players take advantage of this narrative and use it to try to put pressure on the club for assurances that no player gets. The Blues clearly give minutes to those who deserve them and have no problem trusting academy graduates with key roles. The narrative that it’s Chelsea’s fault that some academy players don’t see a pathway to the first team is so far from the truth.

Just last season, Tuchel gave Chalobah a league debut, then went on to give him 30 games in all competitions and 20 games in the league. This season, Tuchel is set to integrate Conor Gallagher and, if reports are to be believed, Ethan Ampadu. “Oh nice try! Chelsea didn’t start giving chances until a few seasons ago when Lampard came in!” Even if that were true, it would mean that the Blues are no longer the youth-hating club that many still accuse them of being. Either way you look at it, when comparing to their rivals at the top of the table, the evidence points to Chelsea being the most liberal with minutes to academy graduates.

Many fans simply want the club to hand out playing time to players before the season starts for selfish purposes. No club or manager worth their onion would promise anyone playing time before the season starts, and definitely not to inexperienced academy players. Chelsea already has Kalidou Koulibaly, Thiago Silva and Chalobah. The Blues are still reportedly working on signing Paris Saint-Germain star Presnel Kimpembe and Sevilla’s Jules Kounde. Of course some fans want Colwill to take the spot of one of the aforementioned names, but that is unrealistic, especially when you consider that Colwill has not played a single minute of top flight football.

Many of these Chelsea supporters aren’t interested in fairness for the academy players No, they’re interested in privilege, and that is something the Blues cannot give. In fact, Liverpool and Man City often go into the transfer market when they have problems, and only the very best from their academy make it into the first team to become established players. Even then, they’re integrated into the squad, not promised 20 games ahead of time.

Liverpool and Man City are clearly suffering from their lack of trust in academy players, as well, as they have both averaged 90 points for the past four seasons. It would be easy to push a counter-narrative that having less academy players in the line-up would guarantee a better chance for success, but really it’s about competency.

The Premier League top dogs have top players in their ranks, and those clubs don’t care where they come from. If a very good academy player comes along, they integrate him. However, they don’t go out of their way to pander to youngsters or show them some imaginary pathway by promising minutes they don’t even promise to established players.