Both Chelsea’s Under-21 and Under-18 teams were in action on Saturday, and both squads continued their excellent pre-season plans to date by remaining unbeaten and picking up a pair of wins. The Under-21s made the long trip to North Wales to take on Colwyn Bay, who are managed by former Chelsea defender and current Chelsea TV analyst Frank Sinclair and his team. Dermot Drummy made a handful of changes to…
The Potential of Jeremie Boga
It’s not unusual to see talented young footballers play above their age group at academy level. Chelsea have done it for years – most clubs do – in a bid to challenge the player by exposing him to a higher level of competition, rather than allow him to potentially stagnate against those he’s already proven himself better than. You typically see it up to and including Under-18 level, where a…
Under-18 Fixtures Set
Chelsea’s Under-18 schedule for the 2013-14 season was confirmed on Wednesday morning, with a new-look 31-game fixture list ahead for Adi Viveash’s group. In the latest reshuffle by the Premier League, the nation’s 22 Category One academies have been split North and South into two equal divisions of eleven. Teams will play everyone in their group both home and away, and then play each of the other teams in the…
Under-21s: Sutton United 0-4 Chelsea
Chelsea’s Under-21s continued their unbeaten pre-season to date with a comfortable win over Sutton United on Tuesday night. Dermot Drummy continued to rotate his squad with a fortnight or so left until the league season gets underway and used a total of 21 players on a warm evening at Gander Green Lane. Alex Kiwomya opened the scoring shortly before half time, whilst the lead was doubled around the hour mark…
Cuevas Completes Chelsea Move
Cristian Cuevas, the Chilean Under-20 international winger, has today completed his move from O’Higgins to Chelsea. The 18 year-old officially signed his Blues contract this afternoon, having agreed to join the club way back at the start of 2013 following a successful winter trial period. Capable of playing anywhere on the left side of the pitch, he is arguably most adept in an attacking role and possesses great pace and…
Under-21s Begin New-Look League Home to Tottenham
Chelsea’s Under-21 team will begin their 2013-14 Barclays Under-21 Premier League campaign at home to Tottenham Hotspur. Dermot Drummy’s boys will host Spurs on Friday 9th August at Aldershot’s Recreation Ground in the first game of a new-look league featuring 22 Category One clubs. The teams will each face off ONCE, either home or away, with the top four at the end of the season taking part in an end-of-season…
Rooney or Not Rooney – That Is The Question
This morning saw an outbreak of consternation in the Twittersphere over reports that Chelsea had reportedly made a bid of £10 Million plus a player believed to be either David Luiz or Juan Mata in exchange for Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney. However, sanity was rapidly restored once everyone realised that it was highly unlikely that Chelsea would swap any player who is young, talented, integral part of the team such…
Sun, Sweat & Fun At Cobham
Being a UK based fan of Chelsea doesn’t come with many perks these days. A chance to interact with the players is rare. Even if you pay the vast sums required to attend the Player of The Year dinner, you’ll end up roped off from the players in their VIP area. There is usually an open training session at Stamford Bridge pre-season, but this comes with a stentorian warning that…
On Style And Identity…At Chelsea And Beyond
The recent issues displayed by England’s national youth football teams in their summer tournaments has led to much prognostication amongst pundits trying to identify ‘the problem’. A myriad of issues and potential solutions have been raised, but perhaps the most salient point brought to attention is that none of the Three Lions’ teams – even up to Roy Hodgson’s senior squad – seem to know how they want to play….
Brighton Beaten As Under-18s Head For Austria
Chelsea got their Under-18 pre-season slate of fixtures underway on a sweltering hot Saturday afternoon with a 2-0 win over Brighton & Hove Albion. Goals from Nias Butungu and Charly Musonda saw the Blues triumph, although the game was effectively a training session at this stage of the summer and featured playing time for some twenty or so youngsters, with Under-16s and trialists amongst them. Reece Mitchell played for the…