Speaking of Chelsea, most people will immediately call the club from the city of London as a club that is active in bringing in star players. Indeed, since it was taken over by Roman Abramovich in 2003, Chelsea, who had been in debt, immediately transformed into an ambitious club. The magnitude of Roman Abramovich’s ambitions at Chelsea can be seen from the number of world class star players who were brought to Stamford Bridge. Starting from Claude Makelele, Didier Drogba, Eden Hazard, Diego Costa, to N’Golo Kante.
In the Abramovich era, Chelsea even had time to record the most expensive transfer record of the English League when bringing Andriy Shevchenko (Ukraine, 2006) and Fernando Torres (Spain, 2011). Unfortunately both of them failed to shine bright despite being able to win a trophy with Chelsea. Not only players, a number of famous coaches have also tasted the Chelsea hot seat coach. There are senior coaches like Claudio Ranieri and Maurizio Sarri (Italy). There are also Champions League-winning coaches like Rafa Benitez (Spain), Jose Mourinho (Portugal), Carlo Ancelotti and Roberto Di Matteo (Italy), and Guus Hiddink (Netherlands). In fact, Chelsea have also been looked after by eccentric coaches like Antonio Conte (Italy) and Andre Villas-Boas (Portugal).
Uniquely, besides actively bringing in star players, Chelsea is also actively hunting talented young players. Some are honed at club academies, others are loaned to other clubs as soon as they are brought in. Of the two, the second case became one of the “characteristics” of Chelsea in the Roman Abramovich era, because Chelsea brought many talented young players, but they actually shone at other clubs, soon after being released permanently because they were judged “less able” to compete in the first team.
The number of talented young players recruited by Chelsea, could make the club academy players like forgotten. Even some of the Chelsea academy graduates had to move clubs to be more developed, for example Rhian Brewster (Liverpool), Ola Aina (Torino) and Dominic Solanke (Bournemouth). There are also players who have been loaned several times to other clubs, such as in the case of Tammy Abraham, Chelsea’s main striker at the moment. Arguably, Chelsea academy players like forgotten in their own club. Even if someone enters the first team, their playing minutes are relatively limited, as experienced by Callum Hudson-Odoi last season. Practically, only Ruben Loftus-Cheek, academy dropout players who are able to consistently compete in the Chelsea first team.
But, this season, the situation has changed dramatically. The arrival of Frank Lampard and the FIFA transfer embargo sanction during one season of competition are the main causes. For information, sanctions transfer embargo obtained Chelsea, because they are considered to violate the transfer regulations of young players. Meanwhile, Frank Lampard returned to Chelsea to replace Maurizio Sarri who moved to Juventus. Lampard himself carried off by Chelsea, following the coaching debut season was quite successful with Derby County in the Championship Division. With relatively modest player material, Lampard successfully led the Rams to the final play-off promotion, before being defeated by Aston Villa directed by Dean Smith, who was assisted by John Terry, Lampard’s former teammate at Chelsea.
If you look at the situation, optimizing club dropout players is the most logical option for Chelsea. This option looks more promising, because Lampard is the coach. With his background as a club legend, of course Lampard is familiar with the ins and outs of the club, including anyone who deserves to be promoted to the first team. Not surprisingly, this season we began to see several Chelsea academy dropout players in action on the gridiron. Not limited to playing, some of them have become key players, such as Mason Mount (midfielder), and Tammy Abraham (striker).Besides the two, there are Fikayo Tomori (defender) and Billy Gilmour (midfielder), who are starting to get a chance to play.
Remarkably, of the four names mentioned earlier, the first three names have both scored for Chelsea this season in the league. In fact, Tammy Abraham is the Premier League’s top scorer with 7 goals, including a hat-trick that was scored against Wolverhampton Wanderers last weekend. In this match, Chelsea won 5-2, with two other goals scored by Fikayo Tomori and Mason Mount. Apart from the slow start that Chelsea had this season, the presence of Lampard and the shining of young players dropped out of the club academy, making Chelsea like a blessing in trouble. Understandably, this blessing is obtained when they are being embargoed with a player transfer embargo.
What Chelsea has shown this season is a positive indication, as well as a marker of the start of regeneration for the club’s academy players. If given more opportunities, it is quite possible they will become a formidable team, with a note, Roman Abramovich would be patient. Understandably, the Russian tycoon is known to easily change coaches, especially when Chelsea are in a negative trend.
ASL
