Chelsea, although not fully up and running, have shown huge promise at the beginning of this season. After clinching his first EPL win as Chelsea boss, Frank Lampard looks like he way well be the man to move the club onwards and upwards. Refreshingly, Lampard has openly stated that he is comfortable putting his faith in Chelsea’s less experienced players.
All eyes will be on Chelsea’s young ones this season from fans and the club’s board members. Since Roman Abramovich’s arrival, Chelsea have had an effective but expensive strategy to achieve success. Buy! Buy! Buy! It was simple and it worked. But now lots of clubs can compete on a financial level with Chelsea, and it is clear that a new tactic is needed. Ironically being banned from purchasing any new players may be a blessing in disguise.
Chelsea’s, as well as Manchester City’s academies, have rightly been accused of being useless due to the fact that the two clubs have, in recent history, refused to offer many opportunities to their youngsters. With this transfer ban that Chelsea are currently serving, they are being forced to promote some of their young players into the main squad.
That does not mean that Chelsea are not keeping up with their usual strategies. The London club have once again placed a huge number of players out on loan. Ethan Ampadu, Nathan Baxter, Richard Nartey, Charly Musonda, Luke McCormick and Mario Pasalic are just some of the names that departed Chelsea on loan in the summer.
The Englishman plans to fast track the development of his promising players by chucking them into the starting eleven straight away. To be fair to the Chelsea boss, it hasn’t turned out too poorly. Both Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount have seriously impressed in their opening games to the season. Bagging a few goals between them has shown that they are certainly ready to fight for their place.
The best-case scenario for Chelsea this season is that their youngsters fully establish themselves as essential players in the team. If these wonder-kids that are just getting their chance now don’t capitalize on their opportunity you can guarantee that Chelsea will switch back to their old ways. However, if Lampard does successfully turn these boys into men, then Roman Abramovich may not need to dive as deep into his pockets in the future.
Ideally, Chelsea will feel comfortable enough to put faith in their academy players. They can no longer outspend Manchester City, Manchester United or even Liverpool. It seems as if Chelsea are running out of options. They must invest in their youngsters and let them fight for their place.
