1 minute ago, Scott Harris said:

I disagree. Out of all of the players from our academy that got a shot last season, he was the one i rated the highest. There were many times throughout last season where i thought he could have done a better job than Matic. I think it's a bit of waste in all honesty.

I would have liked him to stay also, but you can't blame the lad for wanting first team football. We could never offer that for this coming season, and only 1 year on his contract. I am sure lessons have been learned and there is a buy back clause or sell on fee.

53 minutes ago, barak81 said:

Always sad to see a home grown go,but with chalouba you know, if he does go on to be a real player, he would jump at the chance to come home, yes it will cost us a prettt penny, but this is his chance to prove he was right and we were wrong 

its a great move for him.

he had the choice of realistically getting the odd appearance here and there or potentially playing his way into the world cup by playing regular football. he's also going to be playing for a good manager and has the security of a five year deal. you have to be delighted for him, he completely deserves it.

and, as you say, if he grows to the point where- without sentimentality- he's good enough to play every week for a top club, then we could bring him back.

this isn't another de bruyne- honestly he is at a point a lot of players from our academy will find themselves: a very decent footballer but not ready to play serious minutes for a top side and also too good and a little too old to hang around watching from the stands.

there is a reason big clubs 'allow' promising young talents (be they from their own academy or even other smaller clubs) to be signed by mid table sides, and it isn't down to short-sightedness or poor scouting.

11 minutes ago, g3.7 said:

its a great move for him.

he had the choice of realistically getting the odd appearance here and there or potentially playing his way into the world cup by playing regular football. he's also going to be playing for a good manager and has the security of a five year deal. you have to be delighted for him, he completely deserves it.

and, as you say, if he grows to the point where- without sentimentality- he's good enough to play every week for a top club, then we could bring him back.

this isn't another de bruyne- honestly he is at a point a lot of players from our academy will find themselves: a very decent footballer but not ready to play serious minutes for a top side and also too good and a little too old to hang around watching from the stands.

there is a reason big clubs 'allow' promising young talents (be they from their own academy or even other smaller clubs) to be signed by mid table sides, and it isn't down to short-sightedness or poor scouting.

Exactly.  It is going to be rare for any YT player to get into this team, but one thing is for sure: if they impress in the youth ranks, they'll be guaranteed a career in football away from the club.

If we look at Bertrand, i think it is similar.  Gone on to a good career, but not quite Chelsea first team regular standard

For him to have whittled his contract down to 1 year left must have meant he was desperate to leave, the club did everything it could and I reckon he saw more action last season because they wanted him to sign.

Can't blame either sides as a top club we simply can't offer the playing time he wants so he has to move, it's no surprise he chose the club that played him the most in his career so far.

Wish him the absolute best, seems like a great kid.

This is the second time he's shown balls, first taking a loan abroad at Napoli (on his own, not with several others at Vitesse) and now backing himself as too good to play 10 games a season.

Good on him.

Who needs a bigger squad with more games, right?

I'm starting to worry about homegrown players now too.

 

Anyway, good luck to Nate. He probably made the best decision for him, can't really fault that.

Its really only 10 games more and thats if we get the FA Cup final again and if we make it to the CL quarters. Even if we promised him those extra 10 is he really sticking around for that? He and Ake probably start about 35 matches for their new clubs this season, we can't offer that. 

Another one bites the dust.

Shame

 

Maybe Marco Van Ginkel is now in the frame for a midfield squad berth ?

Or Bakayoko will be signing, and surely also someone esle ?

Or our plan is simply to finance the new stadium via player sales LOL

18 minutes ago, Sexyfootball said:

Shame

 

Maybe Marco Van Ginkel is now in the frame for a midfield squad berth ?

Or Bakayoko will be signing, and surely also someone esle ?

Or our plan is simply to finance the new stadium via player sales LOL

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11914/10946450/psv-hope-to-keep-chelseas-marco-van-ginkel-next-season

Yes he is, but apparently Matic is leaving too.

ITS A SALE!!!! 

Grinds my gears as previously stated but it is the right move for him. 

No idea who our club trained players are going to be now. Andreas and ?

Reactions of Michy and Trev Chalobah on twitter are particularly interesting. 

3 hours ago, Scott Harris said:

I disagree. Out of all of the players from our academy that got a shot last season, he was the one i rated the highest. There were many times throughout last season where i thought he could have done a better job than Matic. I think it's a bit of waste in all honesty.

He wasn't better than Matic. People just want the youngsters to make it so bad, they start imagining things. If Chalobah deserved to play more, he would have. Conte rewards those that deserve a chance, look at Moses.

Truth is, he's too old to remain a fringe player if he wants to advance his career and at this point clearly isn't good enough to be a starter at a top club. Chalobah had one year left on a contract and the club wanted him to extend. He didn't, end of story.

at this moment (still time) its another shambolic transfer window,rather than strengthen the squad we have made it much weaker, 5 outgoings and only 2 incomings with matic still wanting away

the club must have something up their sleeve or mr conte may well leave.

1 hour ago, abramovich said:

He wasn't better than Matic. People just want the youngsters to make it so bad, they start imagining things. If Chalobah deserved to play more, he would have. Conte rewards those that deserve a chance, look at Moses.

Truth is, he's too old to remain a fringe player if he wants to advance his career and at this point clearly isn't good enough to be a starter at a top club. Chalobah had one year left on a contract and the club wanted him to extend. He didn't, end of story.

I think it says Conte is happy with him if we offered him a new contract and are pretty actively trying to sell Matic. 

1 hour ago, TheChelseaBlues said:

I think it says Conte is happy with him if we offered him a new contract and are pretty actively trying to sell Matic. 

Giving a player a contract just means it guarantees the club gets a fee when he moves instead of meaning he has a future at the club.

Give him a contract, loan him out to put him in the shop window then sell.

Edited July 14, 20179 yr by Blue Exile

Good luck Nate!

Good move for Nat, disappointing for the fans but he does at 22hrs of age now need regular football to develop as a player. His home grown status was clearly the attraction to the club with the lucrative contract offer. Truth is though at present he would at best be a squad player with us,not getting enough regular minutes to improve. He had within his contract the buyout clause, this has got him a move to a club that his level at present . He isn't the finished article , it is now up to him to get to be that. With the right attitude he will attain that, good luck to him. 

As for the academy, it has done its job and produced a young player to a high standard. 

Great move for the lad, really happy for him that he should be playing week in, week out, felt he should have got more gametime here last year as I personally think he's better than Matic (in current form). 

 

I wish him all the best in his career but I think this is the one that is going to make me accept we won't see a youth product come through in to our first team for a very, very long time.

 

I'm also starting to get seriously concerned about our squad depth? we're letting go so many sub/fringe players, we're going to end up with a squad of about 13!

as everyone has mentioned regarding the squad what does this mean for our HG quota? Christensen ? Moses? Cahill? unless Musonda and Baker are hanging about we are looking awfully thin... i support Conte and the board 100% but i do have to question some of the decisions... wish they would give us some explanation over players leaving. 

Watch Watford get relegated next season, and Nat will put in a transfer request up to Anfield.

6 hours ago, Spiller86 said:

Grinds my gears as previously stated but it is the right move for him. 

No idea who our club trained players are going to be now. Andreas and ?

Reactions of Michy and Trev Chalobah on twitter are particularly interesting. 

What have they said?

yeah even though i did like chalobah, i think he has been overrated by some fans. for me, he doesn't stand out as spectacular in anything. he is a decent passer of the ball, has good composure on the ball, can defend competently, but he lacks offensive game. he just doesn't have a main strength which you can point to and say "that's what we need" in all fairness. 

Well, there you go. Everyone can relax now, the club did all they could, really.

Hard though it may for many of us Academy romantics to accept, the priority this season must be to make a better fist of defending the title than Jose did previously and part of the procedure has to include funding Antonio Conte's bidding for those top quality players he requires. That said, we are seemingly as close as we've ever been to seeing our youngsters make the grade and with that in mind Chelsea's head of youth development, Neil Bath, recently highlighted the changing landscape of academy work, particularly 'in relation to senior football breakthrough and the pathway evolving into a 15-year project'. He believes it is imperative that our programme and philosophy adjusts alongside those changes in the wider game [presumably a reference to massive transfer fees] but the most important thing he said was the following:-

"Realistically, to break into a first team like ours you need to have played 150 to 200 games at senior level. Even someone like Edin Hazard had done that in France before coming to Chelsea so the reality is our young players will need to experience the same, which is almost three full seasons out on loan. If a player goes out at 18 or 19 years old, that means they will be 22 years old before being able to really compete for a regular place in the team and you can see that pathway with the likes of Ryan Bertrand and Nathaniel Chalobah.”

Reading between those lines, it clearly doesn't matter to Bath whether you end up reaching your full potential playing for Chelsea, Southampton or Watford, as long as you reach it and everyone concerned benefits. Of course, we would all like to see a few repeat versions of JT's homeland route map to success, but it is proving almost impossible in this day and age, even at the culmination of the most perfect of Academy processes. Nathaniel Chalobah didn't quite complete that process, but still came out of it with a 5yr deal at a Premier League club. Andreas Christensen will be next in line to try and take his chance, followed by Charly Masonda and then [next season] Tammy Abraham, hopefully after banging in another 20-plus goals for Swansea this season..

 

4 minutes ago, Dorset said:

"Realistically, to break into a first team like ours you need to have played 150 to 200 games at senior level.

Then why did Nat break into our first team last season ?