• Previewing Chelsea’s 2023-24 FA Youth Cup Challenge
  • Previewing The 2023-24 Chelsea Academy Season
  • The Chelsea Academy Class of 2023
  • The Loan Report: 2022-23 Season Review
  • Reflections On The 2022-23 Chelsea Academy Season

The Loan Report: February 27 – March 4

Gael Kakuta has been front and centre in The Loan Report for much of 2012 and the young Frenchman continued his fine spell at Dijon this week with another goal. Kakuta’s fourth strike of his brief stay in Burgundy had threatened to cause a major upset as the hosts led table-topping Montpellier, but a late equaliser deprived Patrice Carteron’s side of all three points. The game offered little to write…

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Under-18s: Chelsea 2-2 Tottenham Hotspur

Chelsea’s Under-18s staged the latest in an impressive series of comebacks on Saturday morning to earn a point against Tottenham Hotspur.  The Blues found themselves two goals down at the break and whilst they weren’t quite able to finish the turnaround, second half strikes by Lewis Baker and Ismail Seremba saw them take a deserved share of the spoils.  Some regular faces from the youth cup run were absent ahead…

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Return of The Special One?

 “They seek him here/they seek him there/those Frenchies seek him everywhere/Is he in heaven?/Or is he in hell?/The demn’d elusive Pimpernel” The Scarlet Pimpernel – Baroness Emma Orczy The arrival of The Special One in London this week on a not so secret visit has sparked a frenzy of speculation amongst the media, who are linking him with not only every post at the top end of English club management…

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Chelsea Headed Stateside In Summer

Chelsea’s 2012 summer excursions will take them to the United States as they prepare for the 2012-13 season. The Blues return stateside for the first time since 2009, having remained in central Europe during 2010 and touring Asia last summer. Early reports indicate that matches will be played in Washington (D.C.), New York and Seattle during the second half of July. It remains to be seen exactly how many of…

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Book Review: “There’s A Golden Sky”

Ian Ridley’s “There’s A Golden Sky” is about as wide ranging and comprehensive a look at the state of football today as it is possible to cram into 260 odd pages. Ridley writes extensively on football with a style that is fluent, lucid and very easy to read and this, his latest book, is both fascinating and informative. Ridley’s first book, “Seasons In The Cold” written all of twenty years…

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Colombian Teen Linked With Chelsea

Chelsea have been linked with a move for fifteen year-old Colombian striker Joao Rodriguez according to reports in South America this week. The forward, who will turn 16 in May, is amongst the most prolific goalscorers in his age group in the entire continent and particularly caught the eye of Blues scouts last November, when he scored four times in the Campeonato Sudamericano Sub-15. That was the latest in a…

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The Loan Report: February 20-26

The recent hive of activity on the loan front cooled somewhat in the last seven days and the latest instalment of The Loan Report is, as a consequence, a much lower key affair. Belgian goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois had the highest profile week of anyone temporarily away from Stamford Bridge as he first kept a clean sheet for Atlético Madrid against Lazio to see Los Colchoneros into the last sixteen of…

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Under-18s: Arsenal 2-3 Chelsea

After coming back to win from three goals down on Wednesday night at Nottingham Forest, Chelsea played the role of comeback kids once again on Saturday morning as a brace from Amin Affane and a late winner from Patrick Bamford saw them twice come from behind to win 3-2 at Arsenal. First half strikes from Josh Rees and Anthony Jeffrey had Steve Bould’s side in the ascendancy but the Blues…

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Married To Torres?

Oh Fernando. You were, and quite possibly still are, one of the most talented strikers in football. The performances shown for Atlítico Madrid, the Spanish national team and, to the greatest annoyance of all Chelsea supporters, Liverpool, have proven this point. But then why do you fail to replicate these performances for our beloved Chelsea? Is it just a dramatic loss of confidence? Failing to settle in a new town?…

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FA Youth Cup: Nottingham Forest 3-4 Chelsea

Chelsea’s remarkable FA Youth Cup run continued in the most unlikely of circumstances as they turned a 3-0 half time deficit into a dramatic, late, 4-3 victory. First half strikes from David Morgan and Jordan Palmer-Samuels sandwiched a Nathan Aké own goal to leave Eoin Jess’ boys 3-0 up and firmly in control of affairs, but an astonishing second half saw Lucas Piazon get a foothold in the game before…

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