We've been told over the last 3 or 4 seasons, that we're moving away from the old model, towards a model of youth, where we don't pay top dollar for players, where we build our own. Having looked at the lay of the land this season, have we actually made any progress? It seems to me that instead of binging on big players we're now binging on young players 18-20, it's no less costly, and I'm not sure it will be more effective. All the while our own youth players, seem to be being passed over.

This season we’ve purchased:

Romelu Lukaku 18m

Kevin De Bruyne 8m

Lucas Piazon 5m

Courtois 7m

Oriol Romeu 4m

Davila 2m

Bamford 1.5m

That is 45.5m we have spent this season alone for a total of 18 apperances, 13 by Romeu and 5 by Lukaku. No goals and no assists. Now of course a couple of those players have been loaned out, and Courtois in particular has done well. Of course at the other end of the scale Davila has barely played for Vitesse.

Now some might be saying my argument has a fatal flaw, ‘they weren’t bought for this year moron they were bought for all the years after this one.’ This brings me to the second part of my argument, which will focus on three players. Gokhan Tore, Miroslav Stoch and Fabio Borini.

Now we’re not exactly sure how much those players made for us. Borini was a free, Stoch made about 4m and Tore was undisclosed. What we certainly know is that they didn’t collectively fund the purchase of Lukaku.

Those three players have contributed the following. Tore 17 appearances, 0 goals, 6 assists. Stoch, 17 appearances, 6 goals, 4 assists, Borini, 13 appearances, 6 goals including a very nice double at the weekend against Inter , whose defence featured Julio Cesar, Maicon, Lucio and Samuel as well as Nagotomo, (left back for Japan) So one cannot say they are simply achieving at a lower level.

These are players we made, who are coming up in spades, yet they weren’t deemed good enough (or worth the wages) here, these are players succeeding right now in areas where we have been calling for renewal all season.

We’ve sunk tens of millions into the youth system over the past 5 years trying to make ourselves sustainable and not have to rely on big purchases. Yet here we are having spent 45.5 million for 18 appearances, with the first team crying out for a new left winger and a new striker when we had quality under our nose.

I know there are a lot of threads out there at the moment, a bit down on the club, but after watching a replay of Borini yesterday I just had to get this off my chest.

Thoughts?

Edited February 7, 201213 yr by Spiller86

Its just a symptom of our manager merry-go-round. Managers never get a chance to try these players out and take some risks with youth because they're rarely around for more than two seasons. AVB has been far better than most, and that can't be contested. We moaned about Josh not getting games, but he's appearing to struggle at Swansea so now we can see why. But he did rightly give Sturridge and Romeu their places, Romeu was all him. I loved Carlo but I fear he would have found some way to use Malouda and Anelka over Sturridge if he were still here. He really drove me insane like that.

If AVB gets the chance I'm sure he'll do it more often. But what I like about him, and I'm sure you'll agree Spiller, is that he does it on merit. He gave Romeu chances but not Josh, Romeu was a success and Josh obviously isn't ready. As for Lukaku, I like what I've seen but AVB either doesn't deem him ready for a regular place or doesn't want to completely shatter Torres by starting a teenager over him. If we stop with the overreactions we might get a better youth policy. It isn't a coincidence that the two safest managers in the league have the most successful youth implementation.

Edited February 7, 201213 yr by Castiel

If even 2 or 3 of those guys come close to hitting their upside, 45 MP will be a bargain. Courtois at 7 MP already looks like a stellar buy. Consider that de Gea cost United 18 MP and Courtois has been nearly as effective for Atletico as de Gea was last year, despite being a year younger than de Gea was. Piazon and Romeu both look like players who are good shouts to be worth a lot more than 4 and 5 MP. Of course, anything could happen with players that young but one has impressed in his appearances with the first team and the other has looked stellar for the youth, reserves and even made the bench already. Davila and Bamford are much further from making an impact with us, but it's hard to complain about taking a chance on decent prospects for such low prices. I've never been a huge fan of de Bruyne but he plays a position of need and the price isn't that bad. Lukaku really should have gone out on loan and it's unfortunate that he's had what is essentially a wasted season, but he hasn't looked bad in limited appearances and he's still incredibly young. I really don't think there's anything to complain about there, barring perhaps Lukaku's fee being a bit high.

As far as Borini, Stoch and Tore are concerned, Borini's the only one I regret losing. Tore wanted out so I'm not sure there was much we could have done there. The good news on that front is that we will get 50% of whatever fee HSV should get if they sell him prior to 2014. Stoch's stats look great but he's playing in Turkey, so they mean nothing as far as I'm concerned. Borini's looked great and clearly we should have found a place for him, but sometimes players like that fall through the cracks. It's not a situation endemic to Chelsea.