Gael Kakuta sat down this week with Thomas Siniecki of Sports.fr – read the original interview at this link to discuss the end of the 2011-12 season at Dijon, where he spent four months on loan, and also his future as a Chelsea player.

The interview has been translated into English below. Apologies for any minor inaccuracies, the content is generally as published in French.

Gael, is it not annoying that you’ve had to delay your holidays because of Under-21 duty?
Let’s say that we expected it a little; we were warned that there would be a match during this period. It was prepared for. I’ll be on holiday next week, so it doesn’t matter.

What does it mean to you, playing for the Under-21s?
It is a pride to wear the blue shirt. In addition, there’s a new kit, so it’s good for us to wear it before anyone else. It’s like a reward for our performances for out clubs. To be called up to international level shows that you’ve proved your talent and that you’re part of the group close to the full squad.

Erick Mombaerts still called you up despite your lack of playing time with Dijon in the last three matches of the season. Does this confidence show that you’re a key part of his team?
In four months I have been able to show what I could do with the ball, I made a mark with my club. I didn’t play in the last three games…I do not know if I am a part, but the fact that the coach selected me proves that he has confidence in me.

Will you stay at Dijon?
No.

And in Ligue 1?
No neither.

Could you be loaned out again?
No. If I leave, it will be permanent.

Can you tell us what happened during the strange end of the season, where we had the feeling that everything has exploded in Dijon?
This was a settling of scores between the coach and sporting director…It’s a bit sad from a club that had been promoted to Ligue 1.

Were you taken hostage by this situation?
No, the coach got fired, everything he did and he should not be turned against him. But hey, it’s true that I suffered a bit.

Did the decision not to play you in the last three games come directly from Patrice Carteron?
Yes, it was his fault. He’s the coach, it is he who decides.

Do you know what happened between him and the general manager Sebastian Perez? Did you pay for being close to the latter?
I didn’t pay attention to any of that. I’ve know Perez for years, it was a childish reaction from the coach.

Do you have a grudge against Carteron on this end of season?
Yeah, well…he’s a person who thinks of himself. With Sankhare and Koro Kone I had scored the most goals in the second half of the season. So it’s a bit inexplicable that I was left out of the team, because my performances were not bad.

On the first of three games you missed, Carteron claimed you were injured…
I do not know what he said, I didn’t pay any attention. It doesn’t interest me…to say I was hurt, it was perhaps to justify whatever. But I was not hurt at all.

Will you be returning to Chelsea next season? Will you play with Hazard?
Playing with Hazard, I don’t know. But I want to return to Chelsea, yes. I hope we will play together. After that, it’s up to me to earn my place.

Is there a chance that you go on loan again? It didn’t go so well at Fulham and then at Bolton…
I will return to the club, and I myself will take the decision based on the situation. Otherwise, at Fulham, I did get playing time. I only started two games, but I was involved every time. It was more complicated at Bolton as the club was already in a bad way when I arrived.

Ligue 1 gave you that this season?
Yes, I started playing regularly. I was able to string together games of 90 minutes, I found my rhythm and level, I think. I was also able to show Chelsea that I had lost nothing and they could always trust me. It was a good experience, I still started 12 games. I gained some things, got some experience.

It’s unclear who will lead the Blues next season. So, do you think Roman Abramovich has looked at your games?
Him directly, I don’t know. But I was watched in every match.

It’s still a real disappointment what happened to Dijon. The team had defensive problems but often offered an enjoyable game, and often made a ‘pschitt’ at the end…
As I said, there were things that should never have happened. Without that, we would have survived. The coach made decisions that should never have been taken, he wanted to show he had the power. But everything went wrong, and finally he got fired.

Returning to the Under-21s, how do you approach the two games coming? What is the aim?
Win both matches without conceding a goal. We must continue our momentum.

Personally, what do you expect? Is it another opportunity to impress Chelsea, or do those who will decide your future already know where they stand?
As usual, I want to play. And then we’ll see. As for the people of Chelsea, they’re on holiday, I don’t think they’ll watch the matches…They had time to visit me in Dijon for six months. If I play and I perform well in both games, they’ll be aware, for sure. It’s up to me to be decisive if I’m on the pitch.

What are your personal goals for next season? There will be fantastic players at Chelsea…
There are also many people who will leave. Drogba, Kalou surely; Malouda, I do not know…

Have you ever thought about your shirt number?
No (smiles)…As I play, the number doesn’t really bother me. I was 44, I will try to Anelka’ 39. He was a great example. We exchanged a lot and he taught me a lot. He sat next to me in the changing room.

What other players do you get along well with at Chelsea?
Drogba, Malouda, Kalou, Bosingwa…all those who speak French!

For you, is it less of a blessing that the Blues have won the Champions League? Without this trophy, the club would have been less attractive and you would perhaps have found your place more easily…
No, it means nothing. Football moves fast. If anything, next year will be my year and I’m going big. But maybe it will not be my year…it’s up to me to work hard and show that I’m able to play at Chelsea.

Do you feel more ready, in fact, that in previous seasons?
Yes, because I received game time and I picked up the pace, so it will be easier to join the group. Before, I tended to be worse than the others physically. As I play more regularly, I think I’ll be fine.

In many ways, it’s not a question you can answer with particular ease or brevity. After all, what is ‘ready’?

We often see players head out on loan moves to help them refine their game and develop in order to be ‘ready’ to compete for a first team spot upon their return.

It usually entails some combination of developing physically against older players, progressing mentally with points and league positions to play for, and working out how best their game translates to the professional level.

Of course, that’s all well and good and in many cases entirely valid, but there comes a point where you have to sit back and ask yourself if your definition of ‘ready’ is unrealistic.

Gael Kakuta really sparked this discussion earlier in the week on Twitter, and indeed over the course of the season. Consensus amongst Chelsea supporters was that he needed to go away, perform consistently and prove that he can play at the level required of first team footballers at Stamford Bridge.

Yet there’s a very strong argument that he’s been just that for a while, and is simply better placed after a relatively successful spell at Dijon because he’s shown the ability (at least in patches) to perform in top flight football.

Few would have claimed that Ryan Bertrand was ‘ready’ to have started in the Champions League Final but, given a clearly defined role and set of duties, and trusted entirely by his manager, he put in a solid performance and contributed towards his team’s success.

The likes of Lionel Messi, Cesc Fabregas, Wayne Rooney and others exploding onto the scene as top class sixteen and seventeen year-olds has helped perpetuate a myth in the last decade that players can only contribute as youngsters if they’re able to be key players, amongst the first names on the team sheet and individuals you can turn to in moments of need.

Kakuta, like Bertrand, is ‘ready’ to play for Chelsea. At the age of almost 21, he’s not going to become much more than he is now, certainly not for a number of years. If and when he does, it will simply be a maturity which comes with experience.

He is what he is; a flair player, a luxury. Critics will be swift to note that he doesn’t defend with particular commitment, that he drifts out of games, that his right foot isn’t good.

If your team can accommodate such a player, and trust him to produce what he’s clearly capable of doing in attack, then he’s ‘ready’. You might equally match each of those flaws to a Juan Mata or a Daniel Sturridge – both are also luxury players, albeit better and more effective ones.

This is no slight on Kakuta, but it doesn’t mean that he can’t be one of a squad of 25/26 and be of use to whoever the new Chelsea manager may be.

It’s easier for attacking players to be ‘hidden’, but if you show sufficient trust in your players and have a solid, well-structured environment for them to play in, they can be ‘ready’.

Oriol Romeu isn’t ready to be a regular for Chelsea but was effective in his role last season. It helped that he was given protection from a group of players around him, but it was something that his manager understood and as a result the Spaniard looked capable more often than not.

Ability will always separate the wheat from the chaff at the upper end of the scale but, strictly speaking, you could take any one of close to a dozen reserve teamers at Chelsea (including those who have spent the last season out on loan) and plug them into the team without a problem, as long as their strengths are accentuated and their weaknesses protected.

Talent evaluation has numerous intricacies and differs from sport to sport but one constant found amongst them all is that a player will a) do some things well, b) struggle to do other things, and c) develop over time. Very, very few are the finished product, but they need not be for them to be of use. It’s part of the charm of team sports that whilst individuals make the headlines, the true value of the team as a sum of its parts always comes to the fore.

A 10/10 player is always nice, and producing a John Terry is a magnificent thing for any academy. However, producing two or three 6/10 players every season is just as useful. A dependable, maybe versatile player who can feature for 20-25 games a season is more valuable now than ever.

We’ll never know if those who have departed Stamford Bridge in search of first team football were ‘ready’. We do now know that Ryan Bertrand is. He might not be great in every game, he might never be a consistent 9/10 player, but he’s more often than not been a 7/10 and that is more than adequate at this point in time.

Positive reinforcement is encouraged throughout the academy setup up and down the country, but appears to stop when players leave youth team football and try to make the hardest step of all into the professional ranks. It needn’t be this way.

There are others at Cobham waiting to be given the same opportunity as Ryan Bertrand. Expecting perfection is ambitious. They’re perhaps more ‘ready’ than many realise.

Just shy of a week ago, Chelsea youngsters Nathaniel Chalobah and Todd Kane were enjoying celebrations in Munich with the first team squad as Champions of Europe.

Preston’s Deepdale Stadium may be a less glamorous place to spend their Friday evening, but both players found the back of the net for Noel Blake’s England Under-19 team as the Three Lions got their European Championship Elite Qualifying Round campaign underway.

Slovenia were comfortably brushed aside 5-0, with captain Chalobah opening the scoring with a deftly curled effort from the edge of the box. It was his first goal at this level and second in England colours after a header in the FIFA Under-17 World Cup last summer. Remarkably, it was also his 47th appearance at junior international level.

Full-back Kane entered the match in the second half and played in a more advanced role on the right hand side. He slammed home from Chalobah’s incisive pass to make it 4-0 in the closing stages, with the other goals coming in the form of a Will Keane brace and a strike from Tom Thorpe.

Blake’s team now head to Rochdale on Sunday, when they’ll host Montenegro, before returning to Deepdale for the final group match against Switzerland. Kane and Chalobah will hope to make a similar impact, as will the third blue in the squad, forward Patrick Bamford.

To conclude our week-long review of the reserve and youth seasons, let’s take a look at some of the very best of the campaign, a celebration of all things young and blue, if you will.

Youth Team:

A second FA Youth Cup crown in three years leads the way, a magnificent achievement for everyone involved…Nathan Aké was named the academy’s Scholar of the Year after a superb debut campaign in England…Lucas Piazon won the coveted Young Player of the Year Award (the first to win it without playing for the first team since Leon Knight 11 years ago), impressing so quickly after arriving from Sao Paulo in November.

Islam Feruz led the way on the goalscoring front and was the most prolific of three schoolboys at the top of the charts; Alex Kiwomya and Ruben Loftus-Cheek excelled as well…Amin Affane weighed in with his fair share of goals and assists as he stepped his development up in his second year in England…Lewis Baker and John Swift saw plenty of playing time throughout the campaign and both impressed hugely, finishing the year in the reserve team.

Reserve Team:

Sam Hutchinson’s return from a year of retirement was the early season feel-good factor, and the defender capped things off with first team appearances…James Russell returned to the club after an absence of five years and filled in admirably as an emergency goalkeeper…Billy Clifford racked up seven assists as the team’s most creative outlet.

Milan Lalkovic would have gone close to the top scorer’s title had he not departed on loan; he had a fine half season….finishing just one goal behind eventual top scorer Romelu Lukaku, who was thoroughly professional and keen to learn…opportunities arose for a number of first year scholars to dip their toes in the water throughout the season, and even a few schoolboys got a look…Jeremie Boga made his reserve debut before his youth team bow, appearing just a few days after his 15th birthday against Fulham and holding his own.

Loanees:

Thibaut Courtois followed up his Belgian title at the age of 18 with a Europa League winners medal as a 19 year-old, finishing a fabulous year at Atlético Madrid…Ben Gordon also lifted silverware in the form of the Scottish League Cup at Kilmarnock…Tomas Kalas and Patrick van Aanholt saw Vitesse return to European competition for the first time in over a decade…Gael Kakuta finally showed what he can be capable of with a red-hot run of form for Dijon before internal politics ruined the end of their season…Kevin de Bruyne offered a glimpse of the future by becoming arguably the best player in Belgium.

Goals:

Lewis Baker’s top corner special in the FA Youth Cup Final against Blackburn…Alex Kiwomya’s presence of mind to lift the ball over a Fulham defender before trapping it and finishing back in November…Islam Feruz’ powerful shot on the turn away to Norwich…Lucas Piazon toying with the Arsenal defenders on a cold December afternoon at London Colney…Amin Affane picking out the top corner on the same pitch for the youth team three months later…Adam Phillip starting the season with a deft volley after a precise pass from Billy Clifford.

Thanks for being involved in another outstanding season of youth and reserve team football at Chelsea, it’s always a pleasure to watch it and share it with so many of you.

Nothing stops during the summer so be sure to keep it here at TheChels and on Twitter @chelseayouth for the very latest on what’s going on at Cobham and at Stamford Bridge, home of the European Champions!

Chelsea continued to be extremely well represented on the international scene in 2011-12, enjoying notable performances at every age group from top to bottom.

At senior level, new signing Thibaut Courtois made his Belgium debut against France in November, becoming the youngest goalkeeper in national team history. He is almost certain to become first choice when the Red Devils begin their World Cup qualifying campaign in the Autumn.

Jeffrey Bruma has been a regular part of the Dutch setup and earned his third and fourth camps last October in decisive European Championship qualifiers against Moldova and Sweden. Unfortunately, he is not a part of their 2012 Finals squad.

Welsh goalkeeper Rhys Taylor has earned a long-awaited recall to the senior squad, having first been called up in 2008. He travels with the team to take on the United States in a friendly later this month.

Most remarkably, schoolboy winger Bertrand Traore is already a full international with Burkina Faso, making his first appearance days before his sixteenth birthday before featuring at the African Cup of Nations.

Former Blues Gökhan Töre, Miroslav Stoch and Fabio Borini continue to make a strong impression on the international stage, following on from their impressive representation whilst at the club.

A whole host of current Chelsea players aim to follow in their footsteps, and none moreso than an impressive group of Under-21 internationals.

Josh McEachran has been a regular part of Stuart Pearce’s side since the age of 17 and now, as a 19 year-old, will be relied upon even more to be a key contributor. Despite a lack of playing time at club level, he has been entrusted with a central midfield role by Pearce and continues to impress.

Milan Lalkovic and Gael Kakuta are regulars for Slovakia and France respectively, whilst Patrick van Aanholt has kissed and made up with Netherlands Under-21 boss Cor Pot and earned a recall to the squad after an impasse which lasted almost a year.

Tomas Kalas graduated from the Czech Under-19 ranks last summer as a runner-up in the European Championships and has been an excellent addition to their Under-21 team, even earning outside consideration for a place in their Euro 2012 squad.

Conor Clifford continued in his third season as an Irish Under-21 international, and Chelsea gained another representative at that level this season in the form of schoolboy Islam Feruz.

The Somali-born striker had previously featured for Scotland at Under-16 level and after taking part in European Under-17 Championship qualifiers in the early spring, he received a maiden Under-21 selection for a friendly against Italy.

He is rated extremely highly north of the border and is set to leapfrog a number of age groups in the next twelve months, taking part in an Under-20 tournament in the Netherlands this week.

The Under-20 level is one which is rarely used in Europe, but extensively so elsewhere, and last summer’s World Cup was a big draw in Colombia.

The Blues had Billy Clifford and Ben Gordon called up (alongside former Blue Billy Knott) but Clifford withdrew in order to take part in the first team’s tour of Asia, leaving Gordon to fly the flag alone. Kenneth Omeruo and Ulises Dávila were signed after strong performances in the competition.

At Under-19 level, England have been well represented, with captain Nathaniel Chalobah leading teammates Jamal Blackman, Todd Kane, Aziz Deen-Conteh and Patrick Bamford in regular selection. Bamford, who has also represented the Republic of Ireland at junior level, scored his first goal for the Three Lions against the Czech Republic in February.

Billy Clifford and George Saville have both been on standby for selection on more than one occasion but are yet to be properly involved with Noel Blake’s group. Bamford, Kane and Chalobah will this week take part in qualifiers for the Finals in July later this year.

Swedish duo Amin Affane and Anjur Osmanovic are regular faces in the Swedish Under-18 setup, but it’s at Under-17 level where the largest volume of Blues can be found, headlined by a double European champion.

Nathan Aké joined from Feyenoord last summer having won the European Under-17 Championships, and he repeated the trick as captain a year later as the Netherlands defeated Germany for the second successive year, becoming just the third team to ever retain the trophy.

The only side to defeat the Oranje throughout the entire campaign was England, who failed to qualify for the tournament after falling to the wayside in Georgia during the elite round.

John Swift, Lewis Baker, Jordan Houghton, Fankaty Dabo and Ali Gordon all played under John Peacock in 2011/12, and young striker Chike Kandi played for Wales during their unsuccessful attempts to qualify.

Hoping to follow in their footsteps are another healthy clutch of schoolboys playing for ex-Chelsea man Kenny Swain at Under-16 level. Connor Hunte, Charlie Colkett, Ola Aina, and Aaron Hayden all received their first caps this season, as did standout pair Alex Kiwomya and captain Ruben Loftus-Cheek.

Kiwomya found the scoresheet against Wales, adding to Hunte’s goal against Northern Ireland as the Chelsea boys led the way, but it was captain Loftus-Cheek who evidently stole the show in the Sky Sports televised tournament.

He also found the scoresheet against Wales and drew acclaim for his stylish, capable displays in midfield, where he looked a class apart. The incoming 2012 scholar is, of course, the latest in a long line of Chelsea academy products who have captained England at one level or another, including but not limited to Houghton, Chalobah, Ryan Bertrand, Michael Mancienne and, of course, John Terry.

The ultimate aspiration is to follow in the hugely successful footsteps of the one England captain, and many of them are doing everything right in pursuit of excellence.

Coming tomorrow…we round off the week and the review with our take on the very best of the youth and reserve season.

A new manager, a dozen new scholars, a change of Sporting Director at the top, but things remain the same as far as the Chelsea youth team are concerned.

A second FA Youth Cup title in three years was the undoubted headline of another campaign in which the league slate was often handed over to the younger players – typically including more than a sprinkling of schoolboys – and the cup took over as the main priority.

By any standard, Chelsea remain at the forefront of youth development in England, regardless of opportunities to progress into the first team squad. That’s another area for (a very large) debate, but when put up against any other club within the development sphere, they certainly hold their own.

Dermot Drummy’s promotion to the reserve team manager’s role meant a vacancy was created at Under-18 level, but the club have had an internal promotion structure in place for a number of years and like Drummy and Paul Clement before him, Adi Viveash made the step up from Under-16 level and continued coaching a group of players he had already been with for the best part of two seasons.

Such familiarity cannot be underestimated in its plus points. Everyone is already exceptionally familiar with each other and time ordinarily spent on learning and acclimatising can instead be spent on developing and progressing, increasing productivity all round.

Viveash has proved himself to be an excellent selection for the post, retaining a headstrong approach throughout an eventful campaign whilst keeping his players focused on doing the simple things right. Once that’s in place, he believes, good things will happen, as more often than not Chelsea have the most capable players on the pitch.

He claimed the Youth Cup triumph to be the proudest moment of a long career as a player and a coach, and he has clearly gotten the best out of a talented group this season. It was far from an easy run to glory though, as those who have followed it closely will be able to attest to.

They fell behind within two minutes of their first tie against Doncaster and relied on a late Lucas Piazon goal to give them safe passage into Round Four, where they would triumph on penalties away to Norwich City after a tense goalless draw.

Spot kicks would also decide a Fifth Round tie at home to West Ham after a heart-stopping 3-3 tie featuring a 93rd minute equaliser from captain Nathaniel Chalobah, restoring parity less than a minute after Elliott Lee appeared to have won the day for the visitors.

If their first three ties had been dramatic, the last eight clash at Nottingham Forest was downright ridiculous. Three goals behind at half time and staring elimination in the face, the Blues turned the game on its head with a brace from Islam Feruz, a deflected strike by Piazon, and a late winner from Alex Kiwomya to re-define ‘never say die’.

With each unlikely result, confidence within the camp was soaring and the youngsters saved their best football for the most important fixtures. They were excellent value for their 2-1 win at Old Trafford against Manchester United in the first leg of the Semi Final and although the Reds produced some good stuff in return at Stamford Bridge, another goal from Piazon earned a deserved draw and a place in the Final.

Brazilian Piazon had been the team’s wildcard throughout; arriving from Sao Paulo in November eligible to feature in the competition. He grew in impact throughout the run and ultimately won the club’s Young Player of the Year Award but in the end against Blackburn, it was others who would star en route to winning the competition.

A 4-0 rout of Rovers at the Bridge courtesy of two more Feruz goals added onto effort by Chalobah and by Lewis Baker put things beyond doubt, making the second leg at Ewood Park little more than (literal, given the weather) damp squib.

Not that it would affect the celebrations though, as Chalobah followed in Conor Clifford’s recent footsteps and lifted the coveted trophy. The academy was fully represented in rainy Lancashire, and it was thoroughly appropriate that they were, as whilst the headline-grabbers were featuring in high-profile matches, the rest were taking part in the league campaign, furthering their own developing and staking a claim for spots themselves.

Group A remains perhaps the most competitive Academy League Group and Chelsea’s seventh place finish belies their overall quality, especially with more wins than defeats and a positive goal difference.

Well over a dozen schoolboys were given ample playing time – including three highly-rated Under-15s – and only a final day defeat to Ipswich Town ended a three-month unbeaten run in all competitions.

It represented a tangible improvement over the course of the season as the Blues started with just one win from their first eight games. Defensive frailties were the order of the day as they proved themselves more than able at the other end, notching three at Newcastle, two away to Watford, Coventry and Southampton and another treble at home to Ipswich without a single win.

Chief amongst their goal-getters in the early weeks of the campaign were a pair of schoolboys in Alex Kiwomya and Ruben Loftus-Cheek. The former finished with eight goals as the team’s second top scorer, and they all came from the bench in a super-sub role.

Loftus-Cheek, meanwhile, sparkled in late 2011 with a run of goals at club level and a standout show for England’s Under-16s on Sky Sports in the Victory Shield, where he was the winning captain and star attraction.

Injuries would curtail his involvement from Christmas onwards but results began to turn in Chelsea’s favour. Six wins on the spin took the Blues into the winter break on the crest of a wave, helped in part to the emergence of another schoolboy in Feruz.

His protracted arrival from Celtic was agreed in September, when he turned 16, but he was unable to feature until a couple of months later. With a recognised experienced forward in place (after Walter Figueira suffered a long-term injury) and Piazon introduced into the fold, the team began to click and show some of their potential.

Figueira returned in early 2012, as did fellow long-term casualties Danny Stenning, Nortei Nortey, Samuel Bangura and James Ashton, but unfortunately Daniel Pappoe was only able to return for three games before damaging knee ligaments to signal another long-term layoff.

Elsewhere, the likes of Tom Howard, Anjur Osmanovic, Ali Gordon and Ismail Seremba produced the goods on a consistent basis in the league whilst Jamal Blackman, Alex Davey, Nathan Aké (scholar of the year), John Swift and others upped their game on the bigger stage.

The depth in quality continued to exhibit itself in the form of incoming 2012 scholars Jordan Houghton, Mitchell Beeney, Reece Mitchell and Dion Conroy amongst others, and we can look forward to seeing more from them next season.

It promises to be much like the year just gone, in which case; you wouldn’t want to miss it.

Coming tomorrow…we take a look at the international scene.

Chelsea’s Reserve team failed to retain the national title they win at the end of the 2010/11 season but that was the least of the concerns in a tumultuous campaign which has raised a number of talking points for the future.

Mixed in with all of the usual positives were a succession of lows, including but not limited to poor performances, questionable attitude, player departures and a smattering of controversy.

With close to fifty players turning out for Dermot Drummy’s second string, we rarely saw the same team twice and whilst that’s often an occupational hazard at this level, it unfortunately breeds some unwanted results.

Players become frustrated at a lack of playing time, especially if they’ve not been out on loan. Aziz Deen-Conteh was one such player who told Chelsea TV mid-season that he hadn’t particularly enjoyed the first half of the campaign because he wasn’t involved enough, and when he was it was out of position in an advanced role.

It’s to his credit that he was the recipient of praise from Drummy for how he handled the adversity and once Ryan Bertrand had fully ascended to the first team squad, the young left-back earned a regular spot in his favoured position.

It’s small examples like this which reflect the unpredictable nature of football at this level. The coaching staff are regularly at the behest of those above and below them, with the first team often requiring bodies to make up the numbers during training sessions and the youth team retaining their strongest group for knockout competitions during the second half of the campaign.

Add in a hefty chunk of loanees and you’re left with less than a dozen ‘true’ reserves who train together day in, day out. Others step up or down for matches, but when they’re sometimes two or three weeks apart, minds wander, questions are asked and performances can be stale and uninspiring.

Drummy was critical of many a display this season but his comments after the season finale – a 4-1 reverse to Manchester United – were most revealing and encapsulated the frustrations of a less than ideal nine months:

“They weren’t performing, simple as that. They were giving the ball away, they were sloppy, they were second to every ball, there was more urgency from the opposition. We’re playing Man Utd, and if it needs me to be on the sideline to shout to someone to put tackles in and run then we’ve got a problem.

“The boys moved out of the first team building, they’ve got to pick themselves up, they’ve got to understand that if you want to progress you’ve got to work hard and be prepared to take criticism. I think this year has been a massive learning curve for the reserve team group and where it sits at the club.”

After spending almost all of his coaching career in the youth ranks, 10/11 represented Drummy’s first foray into the world of reserve team football and he was the first to admit it was a big learning experience for him too.

Whilst the group of players he inherited was one he has coached before – many of them from the ages of 14 and 15 – the dynamic changes dramatically with older players who are keen to kick on in their careers and play regular first team football.

To that end we saw Mesca, Rhys Taylor, Carl Magnay, Kaby, and Philipp Prosenik depart the club in search of exactly that, whilst Jacob Mellis left by mutual consent in March after a highly-publicised incident which merely accelerated a process which would likely have happened anyway.

Mellis was one of the better performers throughout the season, enjoying a purple patch around the New Year where he was regularly in the goals and influencing proceedings from the centre of the park. Unfortunately, he found the route to the first team blocked by expensive recent signings (Lucas Piazon was named on the bench twice by Andre Villas-Boas ahead of him) and with no loan move forthcoming, it can’t have been an enjoyable time.

He won’t have been the only one to feel that way either, and it’s doubtless a source of great frustration for everyone at the club. Reserve team football has long been problematic but there is a glimmer of hope on the horizon, and it comes in the form of the Elite Player Performance Plan.

Starting in August, the wasteland of the second string is to be replaced with an Under-21 Development League. It’s more than just a renaming process though, as involvement is mandatory for Premier League sides and it promises more fixtures in a more structured manner.

Training grounds will no longer be allowed to host the majority of fixtures, with stadium environments and ‘hostile’ crowds sought in order to represent the sort of situation the youngsters will find themselves in somewhere down the road.

Matches are scheduled to be played each weekend between Friday and Monday, sometimes at first-team venues before or after the seniors play. This has been designed to allow developmental groups to stay together for longer, encouraging clubs to invoke something of a ‘B Team’ feel with structured weekly training geared towards a match at the weekend.

Whether this all translates into what we hope it will remains to be seen, but progress is being sought. The season may not have gone entirely as planned but there were more than a few bright moments and but for one or two unfortunate developments, it might have gone even better.

Adam Phillip’s third serious injury in as many years in just the second week of the season was desperately sad for all involved, particularly after a fantastic and prolific eight months in 2011 where he looked as fit as he has been in years and was looking forward to going out on loan.

The same can be said for Daniel Pappoe, who returned from a long layoff only to suffer another cruciate ligament injury in February. He, like a number of his teammates, has been remarkably unlucky with injuries and hopefully will be able to enjoy a more positive spell upon his return later this year.

There were plenty of opportunities for the younger generation, with first-year scholar Lewis Baker starting the season in the squad and playing at Stamford Bridge, and playing time for many others in the youth team squad. The youngest of those was Under-15 forward Jeremie Boga, who thoroughly impressed against an experienced Fulham side and is a face we’ll be seeing a lot more of in the near future.

At the heart of the team was a core of half a dozen players who didn’t go out on loan and were as ‘regular’ as you can get at this level. Billy Clifford, Todd Kane, George Saville, Conor Clifford and Nathaniel Chalobah all played in more than half of the total fixtures and each displayed their versatility, lining up in two or three roles to not only further their own experiences but also to aid the balance of the squad for any given week.

With Sam Walker and Rhys Taylor away on loan and Jamal Blackman often occupied with youth team duty (or overseas with the Champions League squad), the coaching staff called upon James Russell to take over goalkeeping duties for most of the second half of the season.

Russell was formerly with the club as a schoolboy and scholar but was released at the age of 19 and has since made his way around the non-leagues whilst developing as a coach. He joined the backroom staff at the academy last summer whilst maintaining his role as first choice at Canvey Island and split his time between the two clubs from January onwards, filling in as emergency reserve team goalkeeper.

He did very well, and it’s to his immense credit that he walked away with a bundle of trophies from Canvey Island’s awards night too.

Patrick Bamford joined from Nottingham Forest mid-season and showed an eye for goal with five in seven appearances, especially impressive considering he played right on the right most of the time.

That was in order to accommodate Romelu Lukaku as the centre-forward, as the Belgian found first-team playing time hard to come by.

In his case, it’s important to forget the £18m price tag and consider the long-term future, particularly as the club were keen to stress upon signing him that he wasn’t read to contribute just yet and that they only really signed him so as to not lose his potential to a rival suitor.

Unfortunately, by featuring against Norwich in Premier League action in August, he was precluded from going on loan (as he had already played for Anderlecht in the 11/12 season) and so was reduced to turning out under Drummy.

Performances were up and down but he did finish as the squad’s leading scorer with seven goals, one more than Milan Lalkovic, and displayed an impressive work ethic and drive to improve.

Men of his size simply do not exist very often in football, and certainly not with his athleticism and football ability. At 6’4” and a shade under 100kg (listed the heaviest outfield footballer in the top flight) he appears cumbersome at times but is built like a heavyweight boxer and has already streamlined his physique with a season at a top level club.

On the face of it, a comparison with Emile Heskey might seem grotesquely unfair, but for those able to recall the veteran exploding onto the scene as a teenager in the mid-90s, it may well seem entirely appropriate – at least from a stylistic point of view.

Blessed with explosive pace, strength and the ability to score off either foot or his head in any situation, the striker nicknamed ‘Bruno’ was a nightmare to defend and enjoyed a big-money move to Liverpool and a long international career.

Heskey, however, gives up two inches and up to ten kilos in weight against Lukaku, and it’s this which is perhaps the most frightening prospect. If, in the next five years, he can put everything together, he could be quite unstoppable. It’s why Chelsea paid such a big sum for him, and it’s why comparisons with the much leaner, much smaller Didier Drogba are unfair and inaccurate.

To finish with, it would be remiss not to comment on Sam Hutchinson. A year after announcing his retirement from the game as a result of a chronic knee injury, he returned to action on a part-time, non-contract basis before earning an 18-month deal last November.

He played every second reserve team game as part of a gentle approach to his full-time return and finished the season by making his full Premier League debut with a start on the last day against Blackburn Rovers.

It’s been great to see him back.

Coming tomorrow…it’s the turn of the Youth Team.

A very central part of youth development these days is the utilisation of the loan system.

With reserve football in an appalling state, top clubs have increasingly sent their burgeoning talents to needy homes across the footballing world, proving the loaning club with a temporary solution whilst benefitting from their player gaining greater exposure to the professional game.

Another fifteen or so Chelsea starlets made the journey out this season, some for the first time, whilst others revisited a well-trodden road wondering what their own individual futures hold.

Thibaut Courtois and Tomas Kalas were the principal success stories, but with the pair spending a combined total of just six months actually in England, it’s more representative of the club’s eye for talent and structured approach to the development curve.

Ulises Dávila, Kenneth Omeruo, Kevin De Bruyne and Matej Delac also fall into this category, with varying degrees of success, whilst Jeffrey Bruma, Josh McEachran, Ben Gordon and others followed the more traditional route after a few seasons at Cobham.

Perhaps the most intriguing aspect of this season’s activities is that the majority of players plied their trade in top divisions overseas. McEachran was the only outfielder to remain in England after the January transfer window (Sam Walker and Rhys Taylor played in Leagues One and Two respectively) and only Gael Kakuta (an afterthought at Bolton) and Conor Clifford (a brief spell at Yeovil) joined them at all otherwise.

The change in approach by the decision-makers at Stamford Bridge can largely be attributed to Michael Emenalo, who has just finished his first season as Technical Director, having replaced the departed Frank Arnesen last summer.

Emenalo lacks the experience of his predecessor and it is chief amongst the things levelled against him by disgruntled Chelsea supporters, but he has in his career already worked in three continents and built relationships across a wide footballing spectrum.

He has been keen to further the relationship with Vitesse, sending three players there this season with far better results than the trio who rocked up there during the first year of the partnership, whilst also adding ADO Den Haag to his stable.

It also appears to be a successful approach, and a wise one, at least on the face of it. Whilst every move has its own unique pros and cons, playing at the top level will generally exposure a player to a more refined quality of football and a more technically-focused training regimen.

In the English lower leagues, things are developing all the time but it’s becoming increasingly harder for a lot of clubs to find room for a player within their budget, and it’s just as hard for loaning clubs to find a suitable home for their prospects.

By increasing the range of clubs at which players can be stationed, Chelsea have provided themselves with more opportunities and have generally found suitable homes. Not all of them have been as successful as others – as you’ll read below – but it’s an inexact science and things are getting better year on year.

Daniel Sturridge returned from a five-month spell at Bolton last season to become a regular contributor in the first team squad this season and in doing so broke a recent trend of players who have impressed away from home only to find opportunities no more forthcoming than before they left.

Opportunities are always going to be the bedrock of breakthroughs; if they don’t come, players will look to move on and further their own careers, and rightly so in many cases. But patience should be preached on both sides, and this is something being stressed even more ahead of next season, when the EPPP proposals are implemented for the first time.

With the national reserve league being converted into an Under-21 league driven towards creating a ‘B Team mentality’ within the age group, many clubs – Chelsea included – are figured to be more inclined towards keeping a squad of players together to train throughout the week and play at the weekend.

Academy Manager Neil Bath explained as much in his notes on the changes back in April:

“At the moment, a lot of boys are going out on loan to Football League clubs at this age. This can obviously be good experience for them because they are playing for three points, playing in men’s football and doing so in a crowd environment.

But, at the same time, you can have boys who endure bad experiences out on loan. They can find themselves sitting on the bench and not feeling involved, not to mention that Football League clubs usually play twice a week and the boys’ development suffers because they train at a lower intensity in those conditions. Their technical development is affected by that and also by the possibility that the loan club may not play in the style needed for certain players to improve.

Furthermore, professionals are now staying in the game longer owing to improved fitness levels, and naturally development pathways can now take a little bit longer than in the days when 17, 18 and 19-year-olds regularly came into the first team. It now takes longer for a boy to step in and having an Under-21s league will encourage clubs to be more patient with their young players, to hold on to them and keep them under their control a bit longer, in order to prepare them to play at the highest level possible.

After all, it is very possible that the technical level of elite Under-21s games could be higher than many lower league matches.”

Reserve team boss Dermot Drummy has indicated that loans will no longer be sought simply based on age, but on more of a case-by-case basis than before. If a move benefits a player then they’ll work towards a solution, but otherwise you can expect to see a more stable group of ‘reserves’ than we’ve been used to for many years.

That all means that the days of a dozen or more loanees per season may well be over. If so, the class of 2011/12 will be looked back upon fondly, as the majority found career highs and enjoyed productive spells. This is how they got on and what the immediate future holds:

Thibaut Courtois

Comfortably the best of Chelsea’s loanees, the Belgian goalkeeper was acquired for a hefty price tag last summer and lived up to his expensive billing with a season for the ages. The 19 year-old (as he was for the entire season) kept 21 clean sheets for an Atlético Madrid team which finished fifth in the Spanish League and won the Europa League crown against Athletic Bilbao in Bucharest.

He arrived with big shoes to fill as Los Colchoneros had just sold club-developed David de Gea to Manchester United but quickly allowed supporters to forget their former stopper as he slotted into place seamlessly, making things look alarmingly easy and possessing a maturity and demeanour which belied his years.

At 6’6” with a huge wing span and a capable left foot, he is every inch a younger version of Petr Cech and is undeniably the Czech’s long-term successor. The change isn’t likely to happen for at least a season – perhaps longer given Cech’s exceptional form in the last two years – but the talent is there and if forced into action now, he would likely become one of the Premier League’s very best from day one.

Goalkeeping coach Christophe Lollichon is hugely enamoured with Courtois but notes that he could do with adding some mass to his gangly frame before playing in the more physical English game. He is almost certain to return to Madrid again next season, and will be a central figure in their assault on a top four berth.

Kevin De Bruyne

The club’s third recent Belgian signing – following in the ample footsteps of Courtois and Romelu Lukaku – De Bruyne officially put pen to paper in January after months of negotiations and agreed to move to Stamford Bridge in the summer, finishing up the 2011/12 season at Genk.

An indifferent first half to the season was followed by an electrifying second as he became arguably the best player in the country, driving Genk towards a Champions League place they would eventually be denied after losing their key man to a broken toe during the playoffs.

More familiar to Blues followers as a versatile wide forward, De Bruyne’s best football came when he was moved into central midfield, where he spent much of his youth. From there he was able to influence every aspect of Genk’s game and went through a streak where he was directly involved in a dozen straight goals either through scoring them himself or providing the assist.

Unfortunately, he was sidelined for the final month with the aforementioned toe injury, and can now look forward to the next step in his career. He has spoken of expecting to go on the first team pre-season tour of the United States before heading elsewhere on loan – Lille have been named as potential suitors – but with a new manager in place he may well be able to do enough to convince that he’s worth keeping around. It remains an unlikely development, however.

Jeffrey Bruma

Bruma’s first taste of regular top-flight action came in the Bundesliga at Hamburg, where he once again joined up with Arnesen, the man who initially brought him to England. Despite his relative lack of experience, he earned the immediate respect of manager Michael Oenning, who started him in the heart of defence from day one, but the club’s form spiralled and Oenning quickly lost his job.

Fortunately, his replacement, Thorsten Fink, held Bruma in similar esteem and continued with the youngster despite some indifferent performances. He was a regular in the club’s best run of the campaign up until the winter break, but was sidelined in the new year by a nagging hamstring problem.

Hamburg’s league form spiralled and they found themselves in a relegation dogfight. Fink turned to the club’s more experienced players to help secure their Bundesliga berth, meaning Bruma was to be left on the sidelines. However, injuries to right-back Dennis Diekmeier and presumptive replacement Jacopo Sala led to the Dutchman being used out of position for the last half-dozen games, and he played his part in achieving survival.

He is set to remain at the club again next season in the second of an agreed two-year loan deal, but if playing time isn’t guaranteed he’ll seek an alternative arrangement. He has expressed his desire to ensure regular action – particularly having missed out on Euro 2012 selection – and has noted that unless that is on the table back at Chelsea, he may well never come back.

Tomas Kalas

Czech defender Kalas represented something of a departure from standard Chelsea practice as not only did he depart on loan as an 18 year-old, he did so for a full season after just six months in England.

Prior to his arrival at Cobham in January 2011, Kalas had tasted first team action at Sigma Olomouc to the tune of four brief appearances, but impressed enough in his half-season in England to warrant a greater test of his abilities.

He followed in the footsteps of Slobodan Rajkovic and Nemanja Matic in heading to the Netherlands to play for Vitesse Arnhem, went straight into the team at centre-back and hasn’t looked back. A club which almost got relegated last season secured for Europa League qualification all season and the teenage centre-back was amongst their most important players, grabbing his first goal in professional football in the first leg of their playoff final.

Furthermore, he was widely regarded as one of the revelations of the season in the Eredivisie, earning praise for his eye-catching performances full of enthusiasm, pace and intelligence beyond his years. Naturally, there was the odd hiccup along the way – perhaps most evidently against John Guidetti and Feyenoord – but the good firmly outweighed the bad.

He is another who will likely return to their temporary home again next season with Vitesse claiming that they are close to an agreement. There is talk of interest from the Bundesliga but Kalas is believed to want to stay in Arnhem, and they’ll gladly retain the services of a burgeoning young talent.

Patrick van Aanholt

With three spells in the Championship under his belt and first team appearances (and a goal) to his name, 2011-12 was supposed to be Van Aanholt’s breakout year as he earned a move to Premier League Wigan Athletic in the August transfer window.

He started well and was a regular feature for the first six weeks before being completely cast aside by Roberto Martinez, with no reason ever being offered for his omission. With the arrangement clearly no longer favourable, Chelsea recalled the left-back and sent him to join Kalas in Arnhem.

More playing time duly arrived, although it was not consistent and not at all regular. Performances followed suit, as he showed his usual propensity for attacking football whilst at times struggling in his own end.

Ryan Bertrand has now firmly established himself as Ashley Cole’s understudy at Stamford Bridge, meaning Van Aanholt requires a big season in 12/13 not only for his Chelsea career, but his own development, wherever it may take him.

Ulises Dávila

A Mexican signed amidst little fanfare last summer, he began his European career at the same club as Kalas and Van Aanholt but rarely featured in the first team squad, instead spending most of the season with Jong Vitesse, the club’s junior side. On the face of it, that makes the move a less than successful one, but all parties appear to be satisfied with how things have gone and are positive about the future.

Coach John van den Brom admitted that the main reason Dávila didn’t feature was because he doesn’t use a traditional ‘number ten’ in his tactics, and unfortunately that is currently the youngster’s best position. He spoke of his “enormous potential” and that the move was very beneficial in terms of experiencing European culture and developing as an adult, and believes there is plenty more to come.

Similarly, the club’s chief medical officer noted that his physical development still requires some work and that a year or two in the Dutch league will prepare him much better for a career in England, citing great progress already. He has had relatively little exposure to senior football thus far and in year two of his European adventure, he should be looking to push for more playing time at a more notable level.

Gael Kakuta

On and off the pitch, Kakuta remains an enigma. That might be something of a cliche but it remains as resonant as ever after a year in which he flashed his ridiculous potential alongside his undoubted capacity to simply disappear.

An ill-fated four-month spell at Bolton saw almost no playing time but he still managed to find the back of the net in his first start, a Carling Cup tie away to Aston Villa. But with things clearly not working out, he returned to Chelsea in January with eyes on a move to Europe.

Olympiacos expressed great interest and were the Blues’ favoured trading partners due to their financial input, but the player and then-manager Andre Villas-Boas favoured a deal involving French outfit Dijon, and would get their way.

Playing in his own country for the first time since the age of fifteen, he hit the ground running and scored four times in his first seven games, turning the Burgundy club’s season around and pulling them clear of a relegation battle.

Occupying his most favoured number ten role, he was given the freedom to play his natural game by manager Patrice Carteron and rewarded him with a string of excellent, decisive performances and important goals.

Unfortunately, as the season drew into April and May, the goals dried up and as opponents began to key on him being an integral part of the team, he found it harder to impact games. Carteron would ultimately leave him out of the run-in fixtures in hope of sparking a revival but it was too late.

What that means for Kakuta’s Chelsea career, who knows? He’s exactly the sort of player who would be better served by playing amongst more talented colleagues; benefitting from the reduced attention and increased quality of play, but has just as much potential to be as inconsistent and frustrating as someone like Daniel Sturridge.

Espanyol have this week expressed an interest in his services and yet another move looks to be on the cards.

Josh McEachran

Josh’s spell at Swansea will be the most familiar to Chelsea’s fans and the greatest source of frustration. On the face of it, five months under Brendan Rodgers in a team noted for their excellent football was a perfect arrangement, one akin to Daniel Sturridge’s spell at Bolton which prepared him for a berth in the Blues’ first team squad a season later.

Rodgers handed him just one league start though, and he went seven weeks without playing a single minute to finish the season. Ironically, the England Under-21 international would likely have played more had he stayed at Stamford Bridge with Roberto Di Matteo understanding the requirements of squad rotation more than Andre Villas-Boas ever did.

However, can the move be considered a failure? Rodgers believes not, far from it:

“The loan move was more than just games for Josh. It was also about experiencing a new team, city and lifestyle.

“He was 18 when he came and it’s been great for his development. He admitted he was behind with his conditioning.

“He has fitted in quite easily and he respects how well the other players have been doing so it’s been very difficult.

“The balance in the midfield has been very good.

“Every player wants game-time but that can’t happen for everyone. But when he returns to Chelsea he will be better for his experience here.

“It doesn’t matter whether it is games or lifestyle, he will be a better player and person for that.”

Much like the quotes on Dávila, there’s some truth to this. Josh will doubtless have made great strides in his personal development from the move and will have a greater perspective on the adult game when he starts back afresh at Chelsea in 12/13.

Technically, he’s more than ready to contribute. He has been for a few years, and it’s long since been a case of physical and mental maturity. In that regard he’s no different to 90% of teenage footballers.

The right manager will find the right role to harness his gifts whether he hit it off at Swansea or not. He might be in a better position to force himself upon the next manager on the Chelsea hot seat for his time in Wales, he might not be; but it’s not as black and white as it may appear on the surface.

Ben Gordon

Here’s another example of a player who had two loans in 11/12, with the second most definitely more successful than the first. Having spent the first half of last season in the Scottish Premier League at Kilmarnock, Chelsea recalled Gordon because they felt it hard to appraise the standard of football in the league and wanted to see how he fared in the Championship. He duly went to Scunthorpe, where he was hit and miss.

He received a second go in the division with Peterborough United way back in August but it became apparent that having missed much of the club’s pre-season due to Under-20 World Cup commitments, he was playing catch-up and struggled for playing time.

Fast forward to January, where a return to Rugby Park and Kilmarnock got things back on track. First choice at left-back from day one, he picked up the first silverware of his career in the form of a Scottish League Cup victory over Celtic, and he has been more at home there than anywhere else.

Don’t be surprised if he makes a permanent go of it over the summer.

Milan Lalkovic

Omeruo’s Chelsea teammate, at least briefly, at ADO, was Slovakian forward Milan Lalkovic, who embarked upon the second loan spell of his season with optimism. A month at Doncaster Rovers had given him the taste for the pro game and even though he was only used as an impact sub, he found room to impress more often than not.

Yet in the Dutch top flight he played less than half an hour of football and returned to England over a month ahead of schedule. Initially left out on ‘merit’, he then made his debut against Excelsior before suffering a hamstring injury which sidelined him for a month.

He returned in March but was unable to earn his way into Maurice Steijn’s plans, and drew the ire of some supporters for choosing an alternative to watching his team play when not selected.

In truth, the move was ill-fated from the moment it happened. Den Haag were interested in Fulham’s Danny Hoesen, who had been playing well on loan at Fortuna Sittard, but they were unable to strike a deal and faced with a gap in the squad on deadline day, turned to Emenalo for help.

Lalkovic was suggested and a move thrown together at the eleventh hour, but Steijn clearly had other ideas and simply chose not to use the Under-21 international.

He’ll have to try again next season, and he’ll more than likely be a great deal more successful.

Kenneth Omeruo

Another who signed in January, the Nigerian teenager hasn’t yet seen the light of day at Cobham but instead moved from Standard Liege to ADO Den Haag, where he will stay until the end of the 2012-13 season. Work permit problems delayed his arrival in the Netherlands but when he did finally feature, he proved to be an absolute revelation.

He had barely featured for Liege at any senior level and had largely attracted Chelsea’s attention through his performances in the Under-20 World Cup, where he marshalled the Flying Eagles’ back four.

In Den Haag, he debuted at right-back and despite having little prior experience in the position, was quickly a key contributor. He scored twice in nine appearances, displaying aerial prowess from set pieces, and was sent off late in the season for two rash challenges which generally reflect the sort of player he is at this stage.

He’ll get plenty more experience there next season and is a very intriguing prospect.

Conor Clifford

It’s been a surprising year for Conor, who scored his first professional goal – live on television to boot – but didn’t get close to the loan moves predicted for him in pre-season. Having been exceptional for Plymouth Argyle in League One last season and then more than adequate for Notts County in the same division later in the season, a return to that level was the least expected for him in 11/12, with outside hopes of a Championship move.

Instead, he remained at Chelsea until November, when he headed back down South West to play for Yeovil Town. He did well enough, scoring in the FA Cup against Fleetwood Town, but returned from whence he came in the New Year and never went back on loan.

Unconfirmed reports suggest Plymouth had the opportunity to take him back but chose not to, and it’s something of a headscratcher to consider that not one of the 72 football league clubs considered the Irish Under-21 midfielder capable of helping their cause.

Whatever the reasons behind it, it was largely a wasted season for him and he cut a frustrated figure in many a reserve fixture. Next season needs to come with a big rebound for him.

Matej Delac

The frustrating case of Matej Delac is one many youth team followers will be familiar with. Once considered the talent of a generation in Croatia, his career has fallen off the edge of a cliff since departing Inter Zapresic two summers ago.

A season on the bench at Vitesse Arnhem was supposed to be an anomaly but 11/12 was the very same story. Unable to find him a home during the summer transfer window, Chelsea moved to send him to Ceske Budejovice in the Czech Gambrinus Liga on the advice of Petr Cech.

Budejovice found themselves rooted to the bottom of the table and Cech, so it goes, believed Delac more than capable of helping them out.

Yet they chose to continue with veteran Zdenek Krizek before drafting in Michal Danek in Feburary, leaving Delac even further away from playing.

He has had the odd cup run-out but has probably played less than ten times in the last two years and has been overtaken in the pecking order for his national team.

Word out of Croatia this week suggests Inter may be looking to reacquire him on a temporary basis in order to kick-start things for him. If they’re remotely true, Chelsea should be snapping their hands off, if only to do the right thing by the player.

Sam Walker

Sam’s two loan spells came for different reasons, and in different circumstances he may well have stayed at Northampton for the entire campaign. As it was, the departure of manager Gary Johnson ultimately played into his hands and he played some twenty games at a higher level at Yeovil Town.

Johnson has shown in recent years that he is prepared to hand opportunities to Chelsea youngsters on loan or on permanent deals (he has twice signed Nana Ofori-Twumasi) and took Walker to Sixfields Stadium last summer on a season-long deal.

The Cobblers spent most of the season scrabbling around the bottom reaches of the division and Johnson was sacked in late 2011. New manager Aidy Boothroyd wanted a more experienced number one and so terminated Walker’s deal prematurely, despite him turning in some decent performances.

Their loss was Yeovil’s gain though as Johnson took over for a second spell and quickly moved to draft in the big stopper once again. He did well; signing a new contract with Chelsea taking him through to the summer of 2014 and could well return to Huish Park next season. Johnson has already made overtures to the player, and will doubtless seek permission from Sam’s parent club over the summer.

Rhys Taylor

After a full season in League Two at Crewe last season, Welshman Taylor had a frustrating start to the season when a reported loan move was scuppered due to an injury to Hilário, compromising goalkeeping depth from the top down at Stamford Bridge. He remained at the club playing reserve team football for the first time in eighteen months before finally getting a move to Rotherham United in January.

His performances won quick acclaim in Yorkshire, particularly after half a season with the catastrophic Conrad Logan in goal. They remain in a strong position to secure his services on a permanent basis with his Chelsea contract expiring this summer, but he will be a wanted man after proving himself more than capable in the fourth tier.

Coming tomorrow…the Reserves take centre stage.

For the third straight season, Chelsea’s academy has finished with silverware to add to the trophy cabinet. After the FA Youth Cup in 2009-10 and the Premier Reserve League crown last season, it was the youngsters to the fore once again as the Blues secured a fourth Youth Cup in club history.

It was the highlight of another eventful youth season, full of your stereotypical highs and lows, with the odd controversial moment thrown in.

Munich celebrations are continuing and will do for some time, but it’s been a wildly successful season for the club at all levels and we’re turning the attention on the youngsters, some of whom were involved in this most magical of weekends.

Another dozen and a half youngsters took in spells away on loan which were a mixed bag. We’ll discuss them in depth tomorrow as we break down each aspect of the youth and reserve season throughout the week on TheChels.net.

We’ll have a look at a disappointing reserve campaign which saw a clutch of mid-season departures adding to the ever-changing face of the second string team, and look forward to next season and how the Elite Player Performance Plan is set to change the landscape of developmental football.

Of course, there’ll be a full review of the success Youth Cup campaign alongside what was an intriguing league schedule, which once again saw ample opportunities given to the club’s younger generation. Both Under-16 and Under-15 players made the early step up to test their mettle against older boys and left positive impressions for the future.

Away from Cobham, an ever-increasing stream of players are representing their national teams, and there’ll be a complete breakdown of who featured and how they did, before rounding out the week with a ‘Best of’; a nod to the highlights of the 2011/12 season.

Ultimately, however, everything is geared towards producing players for the first team and after Josh McEachran made nearly twenty appearances last year, another Englishman has started to make an impact in the Chelsea blue.

It took the departure of Andre Villas-Boas and the insertion of Roberto Di Matteo for opportunities to really arrive, but in just over a dozen full appearances Ryan Bertrand has shown that he is more than capable of playing in the Premier League, and has increasingly shone with each appearance. His appearance in the Champions League final was a brave call but one firmly vindicated by a great performance.

The club’s long term aim of supplementing the first team squad with one academy product per season from 2010 onwards is, believe it or not, a reality as things stand. McEachran and Bertrand may not have been headline-makers or game-changers but they have been able to be an effective and useful squad member despite their tender years.

Bertrand turns 23 in August and whilst Ashley Cole isn’t quite yet ready to step aside, it stands to reason that in two years the club will have a perfectly adequate replacement that they have developed themselves.

McEachran, meanwhile, returns to Stamford Bridge after a spell at Swansea where he would have liked to play more, but he’s just 19 and remains one very much for the future.

Everyone would love to see more opportunities for teenagers but patience is rewarding, as we’ve seen with Bertrand. Very few are the finished product in their fledgling years but as we’ll see over the coming days, the signs are very positive indeed.

Coming tomorrow…a comprehensive look at Chelsea’s loanees.

Chelsea secured their second FA Youth Cup crown in three years last Wednesday night.

Nathaniel Chalobah, Lucas Piazon and Jamal Blackman followed in the footsteps of Conor Clifford, Josh McEachran and Gökhan Töre in the 2009-10 season as both groups of Under-18s went on to lift the coveted trophy.

Many will look to draw comparisons between the two teams and attempt to conclude if one is better than the other, but in truth, each group have their own strengths and weaknesses and were really quite different.

The 2009-10 team were clearly very strong from an early stage and were arguably the favourites to win the competition. They had strength in depth and unrivalled attacking talent to the degree that Milan Lalkovic was relegated to something of a super-sub role for much of the run to the Final.

McEachran was on the fringes of the first team whilst Jeffrey Bruma played at centre-half despite making appearances in the Premier League during the same season.

The Dutchman scored three times in the competition, most notably a free kick to earn a first leg draw at Villa Park in the first leg of the Final. Rohan Ince and Daniel Pappoe also featured at centre-back and have incomparable size and physical prowess, something which was the bedrock of a defence which only conceded three goals in their eight matches.

That in itself was quite a feat but the team were so good going forwards that they were rarely threatened. Töre and Jacopo Sala manned the flanks with Marko Mitrovic capable of occupying two centre-backs at the same time, freeing up space for McEachran in the final third whilst Kaby and Clifford provided the industry in the middle of the pitch.

Billy Clifford and Aziz Deen-Conteh were full-backs nominally but both are at their best going forward and made their presence felt time and again.

Perhaps the strongest indication of just how good that team was is the list of teams they beat. Charlton, Nottingham Forest, Portsmouth, Watford, Blackburn and Aston Villa are all extremely capable sides who are regularly involved in the later stages of youth competitions and are amongst the more productive academies in the country.

Only Villa came close to pulling off a result, earning a credible draw at home in the Final and holding their own in the first half at Stamford Bridge.

Samir Carruthers is the sole member of that team to have featured in the first team since and Benjamin Siegrist is still held in high regard but the remainder of the team are unlikely to ever make a notable impact.

In contrast, the Chelsea team has already spawned two full internationals in Bruma and Töre (Conor Clifford has been called up to a full squad but was not capped) and a host of Under-21 internationals.

Perhaps that’s what one would expect of a team which featured it’s fair share of imported talent. It’s also one of the two major differences between this year’s team and the class of 09-10.

The attacking triumvirate of Lucas Piazon, Islam Feruz and Amin Affane and defender Nathan Aké were all sourced from abroad, but otherwise the rest of the players who featured in the competition were club sourced and developed, and for many years in a lot of cases.

The other, of course, is experience. Only five of this year’s regular squad are unable to return next year as Chelsea became one of the youngest sides to ever win the competition.

Feruz and Alex Kiwomya played a regular role as schoolboys whilst Ruben Loftus-Cheek would surely have done so if not for injury, and there was also involvement for Reece Mitchell in dispatches.

Adi Viveash’s team faced more adversity than Dermot Drummy’s, but in that adversity they displayed a will and desire which may not have been apparent in their predecessors. Where the class of 09-10 ran roughshod over each opponent, the latest crop were the comeback kings, battling back from deficits against Doncaster Rovers, West Ham United, and most famously Nottingham Forest.

The unity and belief created from those magnificent moments clearly helped the team grow and they produced their best moments when it mattered most. Their most impressive 45 minutes came in the first half at Old Trafford, and they were clinical and decisive against Blackburn at Stamford Bridge to all but secure the title.

In general, both teams played in a similar manner, as the academy attempts to breed players who play the same way throughout the age groups, but differences still remain clear. The team of two years ago were more dynamic and able to go from one end to the other with devastating effect.

The younger, more recent crop, however, adopted a more measured approach at times and perhaps played more ‘attractive’ football (whatever that means), but they were also more open at the back and defended with the sort of naivety and nervousness you might associate with first-year scholars.

In a head-to-head, one off match, the 09-10 team would probably win as a result of their added experience and attacking prowess, but to write off this generation is foolish, as they’ve proven time and time again.

Perhaps we should just sit back and appreciate two superb teams who have entertained us and provided exceptional value for money whilst offering a glimpse into the future, whether it’s in blue or not. Only Chelsea FC themselves can make that choice.