Chelsea’s Under-21 centre-back Daniel Pappoe is set to join League One side Colchester United on loan after featuring for the club in a pre-season friendly on Friday night. The 19 year-old, who has suffered a string of long-term injuries in recent years, played the first half of the U’s win against Sudbury and is believed to be close to finalising what is likely to be a six-month stay at the…
A Global Chelsea Pre-Season Set To Begin
It’s been a whirlwind seven days down at sunny Cobham as the relative tranquility and peace at Chelsea’s training ground came to an abrupt halt with the return of the Under-21 and Under-18 teams last week and the first team this past Monday. Come next Monday, however, the site will have returned to a temporary state of hush as all three teams jet off to far-flung locations to spread the…
Chelsea Part Company With Connor Hunte?
It appears that England Under-17 international winger Connor Hunte is no longer a member of the Chelsea academy. Hunte, who played more than thirty times as a schoolboy last season across Under-18 and Under-21 football, was building himself quite an impressive reputation for his standout performances for the Blues whilst being the subject of much transfer speculation throughout the 2012-13 season. Despite being linked with a host of suitors, he…
Power Corrupts & Money Corrupts Absolutely
I was doing the ironing this evening. No, don’t laugh. And whilst I iron, I usually listen to the radio. Five Live Drive is an excellent digest of the day’s events, co-hosted by one of radio’s finest voices, Peter Allen. This man is a Spurs fan. And he was thrilled when we beat Barcelona in the Champions League last year. That’s how much of a chap he is. Given Andy…
Former Wolves and West Ham Youngsters Join Chelsea’s Academy Pre-Season
When Chelsea’s Under-21 team depart for their pre-season trip to the United States on Tuesday, a relatively unfamiliar face will be amongst them. Jack Powell, a midfielder who had spent the last ten years at West Ham United, has been training with Dermot Drummy’s group since returning from the summer holidays and will be aboard the plan headed for New York City and Philadelphia. Born and raised in East London,…
Kondogbia or Chalobah?
Geoffrey Kondogbia’s name has been paired with Chelsea’s on a regular basis this summer as the transfer rumour mill does what it does best. It makes a degree of sense too. The French Under-20 midfielder is an impressive combination of athletic prowess and technical excellence, and he happens to play in a position and role which the Blues could do with one or two reinforcements. There is, however, another way…
Introducing the 2013-14 Chelsea Academy Scholars
It barely seems like it was yesterday that were welcoming last season’s crop of first year scholars to Chelsea, but it’s that time of year where another crop of 16 year-olds ‘officially’ begin their full-time education at Cobham as prospective young footballers. ‘Officially’ is something of a misnomer though, since many of the group have been at the training ground day in and day out for the last year or…
Chelsea Set To Complete Izzy Brown Deal
Chelsea will shortly complete the signing of 16 year-old forward Isaiah ‘Izzy’ Brown from West Bromwich Albion after the finer details of the move were finalised on Friday. The Blues have held a long-standing interest in the Peterborough-born youngster but only accelerated the process of signing the England youth international in recent weeks. Perhaps spurred into action by his ascent into professional football and the potential of losing him to…
Nine Youngsters Sign First Professional Contracts
With Chelsea’s youngsters returning to Cobham for pre-season training this week, a slew of talented up-and-comers took the time to sit down and put pen to paper on their first professional contracts. A highly-rated crop who reached the FA Youth Cup and NextGen Series Finals in their debut campaign as scholars, they have taken the next step by both being rewarded for their excellent progress as well as committing their…
On Bertrand Traore (And Others…)
The wider world of football scouting often throws up complicated situations which don’t quite fall into the usual well-defined paths we tend to expect. As Chelsea, like many other elite clubs, seek to gain a competitive advantage by casting their net far and wide, they have invariably stumbled upon a couple of these situations, and whilst the names involved may be familiar to some, the circumstances are somewhat more uncertain….