Youth & Reserves

The English Reserve League structure is an ever-changing one, with the landscape never quite clear year on year. For 2011-12, things are set to change again as Chelsea prepare to defend their title. According to News Wales, sixteen of the twenty Premier League teams will enter the competition, with Manchester City, Queens Park Rangers, Stoke City and Tottenham Hotspur electing not to take part. Things have been made slightly easier…

It’s that time of year again. Back in March, a group of teenagers signed their first full-time contracts in football, putting pen to paper on two-year scholarship deals which will see them continue their footballing – and scholastic – eductation at Chelsea. They will make up much of Dermot Drummy’s Under-18 squad for the coming season, and whilst many names will already be familiar to regular readers, let’s take a…

Four young Chelsea players put pen to paper on their first ever professional contracts on Monday morning. Having returned from their summer break, Todd Kane, Archange Nkumu, Amin Affane and Jamal Blackman all secured themselves senior deals to train at the club full time. It follows on from last summer’s group of eight first-time professionals and means that the vast majority of the club’s bright talents are now secured to…

According to Spanish reports this morning, Chelsea have moved quickly to snap up recently released Barcelona academy youngster Gael Etock. The 17 year-old Cameroonian, who made his way to Spain as part of the Eto’o Foundation along with half a dozen other compatriots, reportedly departed ‘La Masia’ last week with no sign of a new contract. It is not clear as to whether he chose to leave or was released….

In the past few weeks, Yeovil boss Terry Skiverton has taken to Twitter to ask his followers for ‘scouting’ advice on new signings. Upon recommendations from a number of his followers, the Glovers’ boss secured the signature of striker Kieran Agard, formerly of Everton. In keeping with that sort of thinking, TheChels presents five young Chelsea players who are likely to head out on loan during the 2011-12 season and…

With June coming to an end, impatient domestic football fans are turning their attentions towards pre-season football. Whilst Chelsea’s first team are heading off to Asia for much of the month, their youth and reserve teams are in action on domestic shores and there will be plenty of action to look out for. Players have been returning in dribs and drabs throughout this week ahead of a full scale return…

Never let it be said that there’s no football in the summer months. Whilst the western club football calendar takes its traditional break, there has nonetheless been regular action from all corners of the world, perhaps most notably in Mexico, where a quartet of Chelsea players have been representing their countries at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup. Chief amongst those is Nathaniel Chalobah, the sixteen year-old defender who has successfully…

For the fifth time in slightly under five years, Chelsea have a new manager. Andre Villas-Boas returns to Stamford Bridge having departed with Jose Mourinho in September of 2007, and he returns as one of the hottest commodities in the game, a 33 year-old academic who smashed records with FC Porto last season. For Chelsea’s academy, however, things are about to change again as they will embark upon yet another…

When Jeffrey Bruma returns from his holidays later next week, he will complete the formalities in a deal to join German outfit Hamburg on a two-year loan. The reaction to the news has been mixed amongst Chelsea supporters, with some suggesting that the young Dutch defender will never be capable of holding down a regular place in the Blues’ lineup, whilst others have vented their anger at Frank Arnesen for…

After Michael Mancienne and Jacopo Sala, Turkish winger Gökhan Töre has become the third Chelsea player to join German club Hamburger SV, signing a three-year deal this evening. The 19 year-old returned from international duty, where he had been with the senior Turkish squad under Guus Hiddink, to his native Germany in Cologne before travelling to Hamburg for a medical examination today. Chelsea are believed to have received in the…