Youth & Reserves

It’s been a busy week for Chelsea’s young internationals, with no shortage of news to report upon. There’s been full debuts, junior outings, and call-ups to new age levels, and a largely positive week of action. It’s only right to start at the top, and with Jeffrey Bruma, who made his full international debut for Holland away to the Ukraine on Wednesday night. Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk selected what…

He was once regarded as one of the brightest prospects at Stamford Bridge, but Scott Sinclair’s Chelsea career ended Monday when he joined Swansea City on a three-year deal. The Blues will receive £500,000 immediately (although 15% of that will go to Bristol Rovers), with performance-related bonuses potentially taking the deal up to £1m. The money arriving up front probably represents the amount paid out for Scott in transfer fees…

Reports this weekend suggest that Frank Arnesen has once again been busy in the youth transfer market, with his attentions turned to Barcelona. Chelsea are believed to have secured the services of Georgian forward Giorgi Chanturia, who spent last season on loan at the Catalan club from Vake Tblisi. He was well considered at La Masia but, according to AirFutbol, he will move to London, having been unable to agree…

So this is what a win feels like. It hasn’t been the best pre-season to date, at least from a results point of view. The first team have lost their last three, the reserves have lost all three, and before this morning, the Under-18 team had lost their only fixture. They put that right, however, in the form of an entertaining 3-2 victory over Wycombe Wanderers in a match where…

Hot on the trail of Daniel Philliskirk earlier this week, two more Chelsea youngsters secured loan deals on Thursday. Neither are new to heading off to temporary homes, although their experiences do differ vastly. Ben Gordon’s second career loan spell will take in a season at Kilmarnock, whilst Ryan Bertrand’s seventh will take him to Nottingham Forest. Indeed, Bertrand’s arrived on his 21st birthday – quite a feat for one…

A selection of pictures from Wednesday’s reserve friendly, which finished Woking 1-0 Chelsea. Conor Clifford has an early shot at Lenny Pidgeley’s goal.     Jamal Blackman prepares for his Reserve team debut.     Woking go through their warm-up.     Teams emerge from the tunnel.     Jamal Blackman     Franco Di Santo contests an aerial battle.     Milan Lalkovic looks to make gains.    …

Chelsea’s third reserve outing of this pre-season went much the same as their previous two. Despite playing a lower level of opposition in Blue Square South side Woking, Steve Holland’s young boys were unable to find a win and instead went down to their third defeat in a row. Joe McNerney’s header on the stroke of half time was the game’s only goal in what was probably the most disappointing…

So the 2010/11 loan exodus begins. After seventeen different players embarked on nineteen separate loan spells last season, Daniel Philliskirk became the second of an expected many (following Rhys Taylor) to find a new temporary home for the new campaign. The midfielder will join up with Oxford United this week and spend a month on loan at the Kassam Stadium; a deal which will likely be extended should he impress….

It’s been a good twelve months for the Chelsea academy. Age groups from 12 upwards have taken part in various tournaments, both in the UK and abroad, and have come away with four trophies, headlined by April’s FA Youth Cup at Under-18 level. On Friday, the Under-15 team added a fifth cup to the cabinet as they sealed the Junior section of the 2010 Milk Cup. The prestigious tournament, now…

Chelsea’s second reserve outing of the summer finished the same way as the first, with another defeat, this time inflicted by Wycombe Wanderers. A late hat-trick from Jon-Paul Pittman put a heavy dent in the scoreline which didn’t truly reflect the way the match had gone for the most part. Steve Holland’s side stepped up their level of competition after meeting Conference Premier side Crawley Town last weekend, and the…