- Thursday, April 18, 2024
By: Admin Super
Chelsea Football Club has one of the strongest academies globally despite the late start in the Abramovich era. Then, they completely changed the approach to training young talents in Cobham. Over the past twenty years, the London club managed to outgrow such well-known names in the business as La Masia at FC Barcelona and the Ajax Youth Academy.
Straight to the business
Just imagine: in the last transfer window, Chelsea managed to earn €69 million by selling merely two graduates, Tammy Abraham (Roma) and Fikayo Tomori (Milan). The news on their future successes and betting options are available at the https://bookmaker-ratings.com/ site. Besides, there are many other young players on loan in different clubs, and the Londoners might sell them later if they aren’t on the level of the main squad.
But not even these facts are striking. The most remarkable thing is how the winners of the Champions League and the leaders of the Premier League manage to keep the balance in the team. They make high-value purchases, but the academy graduates continue to matter and set the tone for the team play. For example, in the biggest win under Thomas Tuchel, 7-0 against Norwich, five goals were scored by Chelsea’s Cobham players. Moreover, Mason Mount produced a stunning hat-trick and thus confirmed he’s planning to follow in the footsteps of another legendary footballer of this club, Frank Lampard.
Let’s turn our attention to the most outstanding players, who may well become future legends, such as John Terry.
Trevoh Chalobah, central defender, 22 years, €10 million (TransferMarkt)
When we speak of following someone’s footsteps, it’s worth remembering the Chalobah brothers. The older one, Nathaniel, is 26, and his talent was rated even higher than Trevoh’s in his age. However, he plays in Fulham, the Championship team, and the player is valued two times less, €5 million on TransferMarkt. Obviously, something went wrong.
For his younger brother, Trevoh, to some extent, the start of the season was lucky. At first, he showed himself very well in the pre-season training camp. Then, a significant transfer of Jules Koundé, his rival in position, broke down. The injury of Thiago Silva added difficulties to Tomas Tuchel in choosing the defenders for the main squad, and Trevoh Chalobah showed his best sides. The English center-back added his blistering speed, excellent positioning, and great tackling to the team. All these make a good defender from a great defender.
Given his age and difficulties at the squad, Trevoh may remain in the main team for the whole season and possibly further.
Mason Mount, attacking midfielder, 22 years, €75 million (TransferMarkt)
Mount is one of the most impressive academy graduates to date, which makes Chelsea better. After his one-year loan in Derby County under the guidance of Frank Lampard in 2019, the footballer returned to his home club. Mason got a lot of playtime and experience in both teams, but then the legendary midfielder was dismissed from the manager’s seat. Many pundits began to doubt that the Englishman would keep his place in the main squad since he played his best football under Lampard.
Mount was ready to refute these words with his game and became one of the most expensive academy-grown players who still play in their home clubs. Perhaps, the only footballer who’s still in this race with him is Phil Foden from Manchester City: his current price at TransferMarkt is even bigger than Mount’s, €80 million.
