TheChels.net – Chelsea FC Youth & Reserves
For the fourth time in five years, Chelsea have reached the Semi Final stage of the FA Youth Cup. As has become the norm now, there’s been no shortage of drama along the way as the comeback kids have produced staggering turnarounds against West Ham United and Nottingham Forest en route to the final four. In fact, the Blues have only led for less than an hour of this year’s…
Chelsea have announced this morning that they have signed a three-year deal to enter the NextGen Series from next season. After the relative success of the inaugural campaign, the Blues have agreed to join a competition they were involved in trialling during the 2010-11 season when they played both Bayern Munich and Celtic in friendly matches. The NextGen Series is an Under-19 competition featuring some of Europe’s most prestigious names…
For the better part of the last decade, Chelsea have earned a reputation as a club which does not give youth a fair chance at senior level. Whatever the merits of that argument, it typically leads to the suggestion that players of sufficient quality are not being produced. Again, that much can be debated, but what is certain is that an ever-growing number of Blues academy products are making an…
It was a week like many others this season the loan front as the usual movers and shakers developing away from Stamford Bridge continued in the same vein as they have for many recent weeks and months. Thibaut Courtois typically headlines the group, with the 19 year-old Belgian goalkeeper arguably the most competent and first-team ready of all Blues youngsters on loan this season. He added two more wins to…
Chelsea warmed up for Friday’s FA Youth Cup Semi Final clash against Manchester United with a 3-0 win over Reading on Saturday morning. Goals from Amin Affane, Lewis Baker and Alex Kiwomya secured the win in a match which was barely a contest after a first half red card for visiting goalkeeper Dean Santangelo. He received his marching orders for pulling Islam Feruz back after the striker had closed down…
Chelsea have this week been linked with a pair of teenagers from Italy and Spain respectively, with deals to secure the signature of both said to be close. On Monday, Italian website TuttoB.com – the Serie B-specific arm of well-known transfer speculation outlet TuttoMercatoWeb – noted that the Blues have moved to sign Pescara goalkeeper Luca Savelloni for some €2m. On Wednesday, meanwhile, ElCentroCampista.com via Spanish website Informacion.es reported that…
One of Chelsea’s poorest performances at reserve team level in 2011-12 saw the Blues fall to a 2-0 home defeat at the hands of Arsenal on Monday lunchtime. A team featuring just two of the eleven which beat Fulham last time out failed to impose themselves on a more experienced Arsenal eleven and goals in either half from Chuks Aneke and Hector Bellerín secured three points for Neil Banfield’s Gunners….
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…
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…
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…