When we kick off a new academy season by welcoming the fresh new intake of first-year scholars, sixteen year-olds who take their biggest step forward yet inching closer to the world of professional football, we typically do so with no little intrigue but also a sense of uncertainty. How will these young boys take to full-time football? Will they earn professional contracts? What does the Under-18 team look like with a fresh influx of energy and impetus?
All of those questions remain valid ahead of the 2025-26 season but, this year more than any other for at least a decade, we know a bit more about the sixteen-strong cohort that put pen to paper at Stamford Bridge earlier this week. Almost all of them have already played for Hassan Sulaiman’s youth team squad, and not in fleeting capacities either, combining tor almost half of all available appearances last season and making significant contributions along the way.
Three of them have played Development Squad football under Filipe Coelho and two have made senior debuts, headlined by Reggie Walsh’s involvement in last season’s UEFA Conference League success. The increased exposure to higher-level football therefore sets the bar high when articulating expectations for the ten months ahead; the Under-18s were in the title picture for long stretches last season and should consider themselves among the favourites this term, while the wait for the FA Youth Cup to return to its rightful place at Cobham will reach eight years by next May, and there’s a burning desire to end that wait in this group.
There’s also a sense of a continuing shift in practices with moving players up the age groups early. The Dev Squad was already among the youngest in PL2 last season and will get younger still with older constituents moving on either permanently or on loan, offering plenty of scope for the most burgeoning talents in this group to move up early; some of them have spent a full season at Under-18 level already and will consider themselves ready for such a challenge in much the same way someone like Landon Emenalo did last year in becoming a regular under Coelho in the second half of the campaign.
That in turn will offer last season’s Under-15s – this year’s Under-16s – more opportunities to repeat the process their predecessors went through last year. Reggie Watson and Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli have skipped ahead to the point they figure to be regulars for Sulaiman this season for example, while Heze Grimwade has been a year up both on and off the pitch for some years now. More on them later, but let’s get to know the Class of 2025 a little better.
Chris Atherton, Forward
A winger or wide forward who earned widespread international attention when he became the youngest senior debutant in the history of UK football aged 13 years 329 days for Glenavon in Northern Ireland, and from there the race was on for English teams to convince him to sign at the end of his Under-16 season. Chelsea won that race last summer, when he spent extended time on trial during Under-18 pre-season, and he joins the club permanently now. Favouring the left-wing spot with the ability to drive inside and affect play in the box, he can also play deeper and connect the game through midfield.
Toby Bell, Goalkeeper
Toby joined from Sunderland at the start of his Under-15 season and is an England youth international goalkeeper who has suffered his fair share of injuries over the last eighteen months that have rather limited his progress during his time down south. When fit and available he’s a confident stopper and capable technician, as all modern goalkeepers must be, and is a gregarious and confident character within the group. Having finished last season on the sidelines, he’ll be anxious to get fit and stay fit with plenty of football ahead in 25-26.
Freddy Bernal, Goalkeeper
Also a goalkeeper, Freddy is another England international, one who has stepped up to Under-18 level for the Three Lions already, highlighting the esteem in which he is held for both club and country. He made four youth team appearances last season and immediately caught the eye with impressive size, clean and consistent handling, big saves at big times, and is renowned for being arguably the most comfortable in-possession goalkeeper the academy has ever produced.
Jeremiah Berkeley-Agyepong, Defender
Jeremiah is yet to make an official appearance at Under-18 level and is the only player in this group other than the newly-signed Atherton who hasn’t, but that owes much to a broken leg suffered late last pre-season, a summer in which he’d already scored in friendlies at that level. A left-back who has also played further forward on the wing or as a number ten, his long-term absence saw his physical development rather catch up, meaning his return during the Under-16 Premier League Cup Final against Arsenal saw a dynamic cameo appearance and goal from a player who is technically very astute and who finds ways to impact the game.
Calvin Diakite, Defender
If Chelsea’s historic production line of defenders is anything to go by, Calvin Diakite has the world at his prodigious young feet. A left-footed centre-back who can also operate at left-back, he has all the physical tools to develop into a player of authority, and all the confidence on the ball to be a key cog in a possession-heavy setup. Already a regular feature under Sulaiman last season, if he finds more consistency both within each game and from match-to-match, as well as working on his conditioning over the full ninety minutes, he’ll find himself climbing the ladder sooner rather than later.
Mathis Eboué, Forward
A mid-season signing from Watford last summer, Mathis bears his father’s surname but whereas Arsenal’s Emmanuel was a right-back, Chelsea’s new boy is a left-footed (really two-footed) winger with a shot that leaps off his foot and a sharp, dynamic approach to wide play. He required surgery for an issue discovered during his Blues medical and only returned to action in April, just in time to offer a glimpse of what we’ll see a lot more of in the next few years.
Chizzy Ezenwata, Forward
Chizzy was signed from Charlton at the start of his Under-15 season and immediately set about doing exactly what he was signed to do; score goals. Almost fifty of them followed in his debut campaign at Cobham, then last year he bagged a dozen for the Under-18s, just as many down at Under-16 level and a few more for good measure when on England duty. He’s a remarkably mature and well-rounded forward that you don’t see often in academy football right now; his movement and use of space is exemplary, he’s a good header and aerial threat, he finishes off both feet and he links the play with aplomb. An Under-21 debut arrived in the spring; he’ll be playing a lot more football at that level before much longer.
Jacob Hall, Defender
If you asked ten people who watch Chelsea’s academy teams to varying levels of interest about talented left-footed defenders, most of them would rightly start by talking about Calvin Diakite, but Jacob Hall is right there with him as a prospect of immense potential and fascinating style. To look at him without knowing might give a false impression; a tall, powerful looking boy with a baby face, he’s a more introverted character by nature and occasionally looks awkward or cumbersome with the ball, only to fool everyone into thinking that and instead take over the game like a dancing bear, to borrow a phrase from NFL nomenclature. He displays an intricacy of movement, balance and use of the ball that regularly catches people off guard, can play both sides and off both feet, and is only just scratching the surface of what he’s capable of.
Charlie Holland, Midfielder
Having initially leapt to attention as a 14 year-old invited to train with Frank Lampard’s first-team squad in 2023, Charlie has gone to work ever since on maintaining his box-to-box midfield qualities that in many senses reflect those of the legendary Chelsea goalscorer. He wants to be on the ball early and often, he covers ground relentlessly, he has a goal in him, and with his low socks and busy approach, he carries something of an ‘it’ factor. He missed the last two months of last season with a hamstring issue but is good to go for the new term.
Ryan Kavuma-McQueen, Forward
As custodians of youth coverage, there’s always a focus on protecting young players from attention and sensation and over-hype but, when someone like Ryan does what someone like Ryan has done over the last year, it becomes impossible to stop because it’s been earned and deserved. Week by week, whether for Chelsea or for England, goals of an increasingly spectacular nature would hit the timeline, at Under-15 then Under-16 levels, Under-18 and Development Squad to follow, and there was a real chance of a senior debut under Maresca arriving before the summer break. It didn’t happen but might not be far off if he continues to be as decisive and as explosive a forward as there is of his age in England at this time. To try to define or compare him to another player is a tough exercise; his finishing is unerring and his attitude, when on point, serves him to prolific ends.
Joel Philbert, Forward
Another who signed as an Under-15, this time from West Ham, Joel is a left-footed player who favours playing on the right with license to cut inside. A good ball striker with some set piece prowess, he is like Atherton and Eboué in that he has physicality to with his technical ability and would’ve had more Under-18 appearances himself had it not been for injuries that bookmarked his 2024-25 run.
Ibrahim Rabbaj, Forward
Regardless of the uncontextualised statistics that led to unfair levels of attention for a player of his age, Ibrahim is a top class creative attacking player who bears many of the hallmarks of famous left-footed diminutive schemers. His vision and execution is high level, he finishes well from a variety of platforms, and if he can develop a killer mentality to go with his ball mastery, the sky’s the limit.
Lewi Richards, Defender
Right back, Centre Back, Central Midfield; you name it, Lewi could probably play it. There’s some Alfie Gilchrist about him in his fully committed playing style, in his leadership and in his demeanour, and also in his underrated fundamental quality, which can often be overlooked when a player is outwardly resolute and tough. He too missed much of the season with a back problem having previously established himself as a bit of a regular in the Under-18s’ defence, and he’s the sort of player you can build around knowing he’s the glue that keeps it all together.
Isago da Silva, Defender
Thiago Silva may be gone but his legacy lives on at Chelsea through his sons Iago, who is about to enter his Under-15 season, and Isago, a versatile left-footed defender who can play centrally or in a wider role and possesses some of the same characteristics as his old man. Stockily built yet quick on the turn, he knows how to use the ball smartly and efficiently, he can plug into different areas of the team quickly and with an accomplished way about him, and with full-time football now on the agenda will accelerate his development into a player of professional class.
Dante Waite, Defender
Dante is a barrel-chested centre back with a presence that is both literal and figurative; a regular captain and natural leader of his age groups, his size commands authority and he cuts a dominant figure in the heart of defence (or as an auxiliary striker when the game requires one). He wins headers, traps balls on said chest with ease, clears his lines, organises…and he can play, as you have to be able to if you get this far at Chelsea. Watch him step out from the back and break lines or switch play out wide with seemingly effortless grace.
Reggie Walsh, Midfielder
Last (alphabetically) but certainly by no means least comes Reggie Walsh, who became Chelsea’s third-youngest player ever when he made the first of two appearances against Djurgardens in the Semi Finals of the Conference League last May. A midfielder of modern expression – ‘he can play the six, eight or ten’ – he gets on the ball, he forces the play to his preference, he scores goals, he has an edge to him, he ticks all the boxes of a modern day midfielder. Comparisons to a young Mason Mount might not be received as well now as they would have a couple of years ago but to those who’ve watched them both come through the ranks there are more similarities than differences; if his journey takes him to Champions League-winning heights and international acclaim, plenty of people will be very happy indeed.
Walter Nutter, who was something of a regular in the youth team last season, is currently considering his options with an offer from another Premier League club on the table. Chelsea are also likely to add to this group with signings from elsewhere which are in progress and due to be ratified by the Premier League in the weeks to come.
If, as expected, several of those names make the early step to Under-21 football, it’ll leave space for those incoming Under-16s to challenge for the playing time their own qualities demand. Watson, Grimwade and Nicoll-Jazuli are already well at home and look set to be key pieces for Sulaiman from day one this summer along with Isaac Badu da Silva, but we also saw several more who are now in the 16s who will have reason to think they should get a look-in; England youth internationals Jake Murray, Isaac Collinson and George Jobling plus Poland’s Marko Gasiorowski have the representative pedigree to ask for more, but the whole squad will be ready and hungry to contribute.
As always, congratulations also go to those players who spent time at Chelsea in this age group during their academy journey, and who now take up scholarships with other clubs around the country. Naz Benchaita and Damian Cech (Fulham), Maalik Hashi and Joshua Tahou (Arsenal), Broghan Sewell (Southampton), Jalil Conteh (Bournemouth), Raphie London (Watford), Isaac Boakye-King (Ipswich), Jai Bansoodeb and Beau Redknapp (Brentford) and Jakob Lowe (Leyton Orient) all continue their work into a new season full of potential and possibility. It once again reflects the extraordinary quality of the recruitment programme, particularly the local campaigns orchestrated by Darren Grace, who departed this summer after twenty wildly successful years. For almost all of the 17 Under-9 signings in this age group to be undertaking scholarships this summer (the players yet to receive one will undoubtedly see their time come too) is a feat not only unmatched elsewhere, but is also one that repeatedly finds itself happening at Chelsea year after year.
A busy pre-season with – coaching staff changes to be announced – will see the 18s spend time in Belgium and the Netherlands before their first competitive fixture in late August; as always, you can keep up with everything that happens on social media @chelseayouth.