Chelsea kicked off the new Under-18 season in style with a 4-1 win away to Norwich City on Saturday morning. Swedish centre-back Ali Suljic opened the scoring in the first half before Iké Ugbo took over, building on an impressive return of eleven goals as a schoolboy last term with a second-hand hat-trick. Harley Black notched a consolation for the hosts but they were rarely able to assert themselves on…

In the final part of our Academy Season Preview here at TheChels.net, it’s time to take a more detailed look at a Chelsea team set to compete for honours on every front yet again. It promises to be something of a transitional season at each age group but there is undoubtedly sufficient talent for silverware to once again be not just a standard target but a realistic proposition. Adi Viveash’s…

As part of our build-up to the new season of youth football here at TheChels.net, we traditionally take a look at the teams Chelsea will go up against at Under-21, Under-19 and Under-18 levels. The UEFA Youth League draw is still a few weeks away, leaving us squarely focused on domestic affairs for the time being. The Blues will face a handful of sides across both age groups, with the…

The pathways into meaningful first-team opportunities might still be out of reach but, as we get set to embark upon another season of academy football at Chelsea Football Club, the many young hopefuls in the club’s developmental ranks are still doing everything in their power (and then some) to force the issue. A year after winning another FA Youth Cup and being crowned Barclays Under-21 Premier League champions, the Blues…

With pre-season now well underway at Cobham, it’s that time of year where we welcome a host of new faces into the academy setup officially with the 2014-15 first year scholars officially beginning their full time work at Chelsea Football Club. In reality, almost all of them have been involved on a daily basis for the last year or two anyway with Chelsea leading the way in making provisions for…

This week has seen most of Chelsea’s youngsters return to base at Cobham to begin pre-season and, as has become customary, a number of them have put pen to paper on their first professional contracts. Most of last summer’s intake of fourteen first-year scholars signed their first pro deals upon turning 17 (the earliest stage at which they can do so) during the 2014-15 campaign. Dominic Solanke, Jake Clarke-Salter, Tammy…

Bertrand Traore’s upwardly mobile 2014-15 season saw him become one of the most talked about youngsters certainly in Dutch football, and increasingly in European football. The talented 19 year-old, on loan from Chelsea at Vitesse Arnhem, switched from a familiar wide attacking role to that of centre forward in late November and proceeded to plunder seventeen goals as Peter Bosz’s side soared into the upper reaches of the Eredivisie table…

Eddie Newton has a job many people would find to be unenviable, yet at the same time there are plenty who would love to do what he does. The former Chelsea academy youngster, first team regular, Cup Final goalscorer and Champions League winning Assistant Manager has served as the club’s loanee liaison manager over the last two or three years; a role that means he oversees, directs and deals with…