Just wanted some insight on this? What is our youth policy really? Do we even have one? This is the one thing that really frustrates me about the club. We seem to NEVER get a youngster through the system to play for the first team. And when I say play, I mean be a key player/starter. When is the last time we had somebody become a starter from our youth system? We seem to have these great young players and they get a couple first team cup games, get loaned out, and then transfer out of the club. I feel like this is happening again with the likes of Josh and others. I have really high hopes for Chalobah and Piazon and hope it doesn't happen to them, but it seems like our youth policy is "buy a 22-25 year old that can block our own youngsters." Now I get that there is pressure to win now and that's why we bring in players like Ramires, Mata, and maybe Oscar. I have no problem with these players, (I love them actually) I just feel we can do a better job getting a few of our own youngsters in the squad.

Buy promising players, hope they come good, if they don't, buy more players.

hmmmm. Probably it's because the people at the club who REALLY know about football have decided that none of them are quite good enough for a first team place with the Champions of Europe.

hmmmm. Probably it's because the people at the club who REALLY know about football have decided that none of them are quite good enough for a first team place with the Champions of Europe.

And who are these mythical people who "REALLY" know about football?

What is their track record of youth development?

I think it's constantly changing as we are looking for the optimal solution. Given the fact that we didn't really have an academy pre-Roman, and it started to work in earnest after the youth facilities were also moved to Cobham in 2008, this isn't a surprise. It will work out, just needs more time. I'd say we will see good results in a few (4-5-6, who knows) years.

I did some research into this when I posted an article about whether people mceachran would make it at Chelsea. The massive problem is when Frank Arnesen was brought in he was tasked with developing short attacking football in our youth development with players who have bags of creativity vision etc and interestingly was the man who introduced Chelsea to the 4-3-3 system! However, when these players come to transition to the first team the football we play is very negative counter-attacking football which makes it very hard for these players to step into the team. Couple this with the fact when a youngster is given time in the first team a change of manager usually occurs and that player is back to square one! Hopefully with the signings we are now bringing to the club this could be set to change, I have been very impressed again with mceachran again this pre-season and with him being given a more recognised squad number it looks likely that he will be given a fair share of games this season

For anyone interested in reading the article:

www.thehardtackle.com/2012/chelsea-fc-the-academy-a-place-where-stars-are-born/

I did some research into this when I posted an article about whether people mceachran would make it at Chelsea. The massive problem is when Frank Arnesen was brought in he was tasked with developing short attacking football in our youth development with players who have bags of creativity vision etc and interestingly was the man who introduced Chelsea to the 4-3-3 system! However, when these players come to transition to the first team the football we play is very negative counter-attacking football which makes it very hard for these players to step into the team. Couple this with the fact when a youngster is given time in the first team a change of manager usually occurs and that player is back to square one! Hopefully with the signings we are now bringing to the club this could be set to change, I have been very impressed again with mceachran again this pre-season and with him being given a more recognised squad number it looks likely that he will be given a fair share of games this season

couldn't of said it better.

I did some research into this when I posted an article about whether people mceachran would make it at Chelsea. The massive problem is when Frank Arnesen was brought in he was tasked with developing short attacking football in our youth development with players who have bags of creativity vision etc and interestingly was the man who introduced Chelsea to the 4-3-3 system! However, when these players come to transition to the first team the football we play is very negative counter-attacking football which makes it very hard for these players to step into the team. Couple this with the fact when a youngster is given time in the first team a change of manager usually occurs and that player is back to square one! Hopefully with the signings we are now bringing to the club this could be set to change, I have been very impressed again with mceachran again this pre-season and with him being given a more recognised squad number it looks likely that he will be given a fair share of games this season

Amen to that.

And thanks for posting the article - it's a good read.

I did some research into this when I posted an article about whether people mceachran would make it at Chelsea. The massive problem is when Frank Arnesen was brought in he was tasked with developing short attacking football in our youth development with players who have bags of creativity vision etc and interestingly was the man who introduced Chelsea to the 4-3-3 system! However, when these players come to transition to the first team the football we play is very negative counter-attacking football which makes it very hard for these players to step into the team. Couple this with the fact when a youngster is given time in the first team a change of manager usually occurs and that player is back to square one! Hopefully with the signings we are now bringing to the club this could be set to change, I have been very impressed again with mceachran again this pre-season and with him being given a more recognised squad number it looks likely that he will be given a fair share of games this season

I agree with most of what you say, but I'm not sure about McEachran. He's been okay this pre-season (made some nice plays but also a few howlers, one of which cost us a goal). I would like to see more of him this season, but I just can't see how he will get time unless we rotate like mad.

He'll have to compete for time with Mikel, Essien, Lampard, Oscar(?), Ramires, Meireles, Romeu and maybe Benayoun. That's 8 players (9 with Josh) for two positions, unless we play 4-3-3 then there's perhaps three.

Even if we sell Yossi, perhaps send Romeu on loan (doesn't look like it so far) and only use Ramires for the front three positions in the midfield, that's five players ahead of Josh.

I can see Mikel and Lampard being the first choices and when they don't play we might see Essien and Oscar or - if they're still here - Meireles and Romeu.

So as much as I'd like to see Josh play for us, I think he would have a better chance to play at another team. Let's just hope that we can send him somewhere he'll actually play.

I think out of them mikel is your only guarantueed starter, it's not common knowledge but any player signed before 2010 will not have their wages included in financial fair play and for those with a keen eye you may have noticed lampard say this week he does not know whether he will be at Chelsea next season, essien is also in a si liar position so one would assume they will be saved for big games and play a lesser role this season. I have my doubts as to whether benayoun and meireles will be at the club come the start of the season or just exactly how big their involvement will be if they stay.

In terms of mceachran it was obviously a costly mistake but if we reflect on the positives he got 2 assists, one of which was after that howler. I think players are going to make mistakes, drogba gave away a penalty in the CL final for example but the measure of a player is how they overcome that and Josh showed real character to not let that affect the rest of his game. You can see by the reactions of the big personalities at the club that he is a well respected player and I thought it was tremendous that Lukaku gave him a special mention after the game as well. I think we put too much pressure on the lad to do well when at 19 he still has a lot of room to develop, look at cleverly at utd and he only broke into the prem in the last 2 seasons and he is distinctly average

I just don't see it at this point with Josh. His loans moves have done nothing for him and the lack of playing time here is getting worse with the addition of Oscar (maybe) We aren't going to shell out 25 mil for a kid and then play Josh in front of him. I fear the same thing may happen for Piazon, who I personally think has more potential than Josh. We are just going to keep buying players to play in front of them without giving them a fair chance. Players like Josh and Piazon have domiated the reserve level and there is nothing else for them to do but be given a chance with the first team.

Well looking at the teams that usually go on to win the league and it is usually the team with the biggest depth in midfield, once upon a time we had a midfield of maka lamps essien mikel ballack deco and belleti! I can understand the worry with the signing of Oscar but we are judging him off one loan spell which all parties must regret, I don't think anyone can fault Rodgers for not playing him he was under pressure to perform and why change a winning side. I am of firm belief he will get his chance under RDM this season as he is blue at heart and I'm sure he would love to bring players through like he did with Bertrand. And let's not forget how many games we now have to play this season challenging for seven trophies! The club is being geared towards becoming self sufficient much like the barca model it just needs the right manager to implement the system just as it needed the right manager in mourinho to come in and bring the squad together and win the league

Ryan Bertrand started a Champions League Final, that was pretty cool.

Josh was given that number at the start of last year, it made no difference to his opportunities, so I wouldn't read anything into that...

Perhaps after seemingly (just my opinion) ignoring our youth policy for years, its probably taking some time to recover. When did it really kick off again? 2005? 2006? It's only 6/7 years, give it another 3 or 4 then we'll be in a better place to judge.

I think the plan is to spend big this summer as a last hurrah before the FFP come into place and hopefully we will cherry pick some of the better academy prospects over the next few years to coincide with departures. We cannot lower the extremely high standards and quality of the squad just to introduce a few academy players. I still believe we are yet to see the full potential of the academy as its early days yet. One thing I have noticed is how comfortable on the ball some the players we have introduced are despite their age and lack of experience.

We also have to make the academy become more self sufficient financially by realising some sort of money from deals for players who are not quite top drawer as we see this week with 50% of gokhan tore's 5m deal coming to us rather than just letting them drift out contract as we saw with Borini and the following season Roma get 10m for him.

As long as we keep changing managers...most of our young players won't make the grade...

Think about it, if you were the manager, and the pressure is on you to do well and possibly win at least one cup at the end of the season, will you have the patience to continue playing these young players even when you have an experienced player who can handle the pressure on the field of play...

We have youth, but I wouldn't say there's any policy to it. We have a lot of promising young players looking to break into the first team but at the same time we keep bringing in world class players who will keep them out of the team. There's no opportunity for the likes of Josh and Piazon to prove themselves in the first team, so they're reduced to 5 minute cameos in PL games and being farmed off on loan before eventually being sold off a la Borini, Stoch etc. Hopefully a positive side effect of FFP is it might force us to actually use some of these players in the future.

We have youth, but I wouldn't say there's any policy to it. We have a lot of promising young players looking to break into the first team but at the same time we keep bringing in world class players who will keep them out of the team. There's no opportunity for the likes of Josh and Piazon to prove themselves in the first team, so they're reduced to 5 minute cameos in PL games and being farmed off on loan before eventually being sold off a la Borini, Stoch etc. Hopefully a positive side effect of FFP is it might force us to actually use some of these players in the future.

With Josh now looking for a Championship team to play with this season is this the begining of the end for him at this club? Look at who we bought recently, Oscar, Marin, Hazard, Mata all young players and it is not like Josh is much younger than these players...he's not the 17 year old we all saw as the future of Chelsea's midfield. We just as well sell him with the option of first buy back option. To me it's just a shame that our young players brought through the academy will rarely see the likes of the first team with this club..

It's also not like any of them play the same position as Josh, unless Oscar does get moved back Modric-style. Ryan Bertrand just started getting regular matches at age 23 after more than a hundred matches out on loan; Josh has time yet, and if he goes somewhere he gets regular game time that can only be good for his development.