Vitesse is a bit of a dumping ground it seems. Out of sight, out of mind...

Unsure why we don't send our players to Portugal or Spain for experience instead of Holland. I would rather them go get experience in the best leagues than lesser ones.

Because the Dutch have a superior system of managing young players. (Or at least I don't think that they are worse than Portugal or Spain.) Maybe it's easier to make an agreement with a club like Vitesse. Which crazy club president would you trust in Spain?

Also the culture gap and the distance might be too big?

 

“I can't think of a single player who came through the ranks at CFC and who can improve our current starting lineup. Hell, none would even be good enough to make the squad. There's only a handful of young players in the world that are good enough to break into the Chelsea team or any top team for that matter.” (Abramovich)

 

“For me articles about chelsea's youth policy is lazy journalism...they're not saying anything new from all the many articles they've written since roman bought the club...we are an easy target and ticks the box of painting us in a negative light, which appeals to most readers (we are envied/despised by most non chelsea fans)...you rarely see similar articles about other top clubs youth policy...eg...Man City anyone? Or Utd since the beckham generation...Now of course I'm not pretending we don't have an issue… 

 

…All the [following] players mentioned are unproven at the highest level...it was only a few weeks ago Aina was subbed after coming on as a sub as we conceded four against ny red bulls...Bamford has only scored goals in lower leagues and while I was impressed with Kalas in that Liverpool game, it's surely significant that he can't get a loan to top flight club...he even went to Koln last year and didn't get a single game and came back to boro, where Jose's mate is in charge...it's madness to suggest they should be in team defending the title now, even if we were sh*t on Saturday.” (The Brit)

 

Two of the more forthright posters on “the issue” both acknowledging it’s existence and leaving us in no doubt as to their views on the quality of player coming through the system. Okay, neither will go so far as to call for an outright scrapping of the system, but you wont get a clearer indictment of it in passionate prose. Also, The Brit thinks we are an easy target [for what he calls lazy journalism] and have been from the moment Roman arrived, although back then it had to have been mere speculation on their part, as opposed to the undeniable truth it is today. And if, as the [unreal] Abramovich confirms ’there’s only a handful of young players in the world good enough to break into the Chelsea team’ (and apparently we haven’t got them signed up) why should we be bothering with an Academy at all, why not simply identify the talent when it’s developed and buy in then, as we appear to be attempting to do with John Stones?  

 

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Whether it's the youth players or the club that are to blame for the lack of homegrown development, I think one thing that we can agree on is that this partnership with Vitesse Arnhem is not doing any favours for us. We haven't had a single player go there on loan and come back better IMO.

 

We ought to dump Vitesse and look for a club in either Italy or Spain to form a strategic partnership. The Dutch League is poor in my opinion and to be quite honest I'd even take a Championship side over Vitesse. The players would certainly develop physically and mentally playing 3 attritional games a week up and down the country.

Somewhere in Germany would be nice. I think the game is pretty similar to how its played in England. Maybe Monchengladbach or Frankfurt. We have a history of dealing with them already.

You can't convince me that there isn't someone better than Cuadrado in the youth set up.

https://t.co/WN0T7Y41ai

Nathan just did this