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Well, how do you improve on that? We asked the same question a year ago when Jody Morris’ Under-18s went into the 2017-18 season off the back of an historic treble-winning campaign. Their answer was to go one better, securing a quadruple success in which they retained all three trophies – including a record fifth successive FA Youth Cup – and added the inaugural Under-18 Premier League Cup to their…
No one academy season is like the one that preceded it; the very nature of youth development encourages progression, change, and the eternal hope of feeding players through the system and into professional football. As we get ready for the big kick-off of the 2018-19 Chelsea academy season, things look markedly different, even by usual standards. We’ll cover a new-look Under-18 team tomorrow but today’s focus is squarely on Joe…
The Loan Report returns for another season – the ninth in a row on TheChels.net – and with 22 players already out and about, there’s plenty to sink our teeth into. Headliners Mason Mount, as he did so often last season, made the headlines on the opening weekend of the Football League campaign by scoring on his Derby County debut. Working under Chelsea legends Frank Lampard and Jody Morris at…
It’s the dawn of a new era for Chelsea’s Under-18s, but it’s revolution rather than evolution as we welcome the 2018-19 campaign with a fresh batch of academy scholars. Jody Morris has taken the next step of his career at Derby County, alongside Frank Lampard, and has been replaced by Andy Myers. A former academy player himself, Myers came through the ranks to make more than 100 first-team appearances for…
Europe’s most notorious loan empire has just finished another record-breaking season, but it might also be on the verge of finally downsizing. Over the past ten months, 39 players have played more than 80,000 combined minutes over 1050+ matches, scoring 99 goals, keeping 37 clean sheets, winning titles, securing promotion, lifting cups, and experiencing the heartache of relegation. It’s a familiar story to regular readers of the Loan Report, with…
The contrast between the joyous excesses of a Chelsea Under-18s and the harsher learning curve some of those players then go on to experience at Development Squad level remains a stark and very real one. That isn’t to say that the Dev Squad aren’t successful in their own right; a Checkatrade Trophy Semi Final run and another trip to the UEFA Youth League Final means the 2017-18 season was impressive…
From any angle you look at it, however you frame it, Chelsea’s Under-18s have surpassed any hyberbole or superlative with what they have achieved over the past five years. Five consecutive FA Youth Cups, four consecutive Premier League South titles, two national Premier League titles, and the inaugural Premier League Cup. Record-setting winning streaks, goalscoring totals, clean sheet tallies, an unbeaten home record spanning more than three years; the list…
Mason Mount took Vitesse to the brink of Europa League qualification. Matt Miazga helped them over the line. We begin the final Loan Report of the season with a look at how the Arnhem club secured UEFA competition football for 2017-18. Headliners For much of the season it looked as if Vitesse’s Europa League experience this term was to be a one-off; sinking lower and lower in the league under…
Mason Mount is intent on dragging Vitesse back into the Europa League next season, whether he’ll be at the Gelredome again or not, and demonstrated as much with an unstoppable week of football. Headliners Vitesse’s sixth-place finish ensured they would take part in the Eredivisie’s four-team playoff for the final Europa League Qualifying Round berth. A two-legged Semi Final against ADO Den Haag was up first, and Mount was simply…
Chelsea’s Development Squad campaign came to a disappointing end on Tuesday night as they were resoundingly beaten 5-1 by Liverpool at Anfield. Two goals apiece from defender George Johnston and forward Yan Dhanda plus a fine individual goal by Bobby Adekanye put Joe Edwards’ side to the sword in a match where their defending was suspect, and finishing not up to standard, with Martell Taylor-Crossdale coming off the bench to…