Chelsea’s first under-18 match of 2012 ended in stoppage time heartbreak as they went down 3-2 to West Ham United. Twice the Blues had gone behind in the first half but goals from Amin Affane and Nathan Ake restored parity. Unfortunately, a stoppage time indirect free-kick from Jack Powell saw all three points go back to East London. With Wednesday’s FA Youth Cup tie away to Norwich very much in…
Having turned 17 last month, young defender Nathaniel Chalobah has this week agreed his first professional contract with Chelsea. The England Under-19 international will put pen to paper on a deal which which keep him at Stamford Bridge until at least 2014. The two-year deal is a standard length for a first pro deal at the club but will likely have extension options involved. Chalobah appeared in a Chelsea matchday…
Those of you who have kept a keen interest in Chelsea’s loan activity this season will have noted that not everything has gone smoothly. Whilst the likes of Thibaut Courtois, Tomas Kalas and Jeffrey Bruma have all featured regularly for their temporary clubs and are generally having good seasons, at the other end of the scale Gael Kakuta, Patrick van Aanholt and Matej Delac have struggled for playing time and…
There are currently eight young Chelsea players out on loan both at home and abroad. A further trio – Milan Lalkovic, Sam Walker and Ben Gordon – have already spent time away and are now back at Chelsea. With the opening of the winter transfer window, attentions not only turn towards the high-profile deals the first team may make, but also to the moves Neil Bath and the academy staff…
You don’t find too many £18m signings playing reserve team football, but Romelu Lukaku is something of a special case. Much is expected of the gigantic 18 year-old forward, but for the majority of his first few months in England he has most often been found playing for Dermot Drummy’s second string team. With an array of senior forwards ahead of him in the pecking order, playing time was always…
Five goals and two assists in thirteen matches, England Under-16 captain (complete with goal and assists), and a place on the reserve team substitutes bench aged 15. It’s not been a bad 2011-12 campaign so far for schoolboy Ruben Loftus-Cheek, and whilst coverage of Under-16 players should be tempered, the young midfielder makes an impact so often that he’s hard to ignore. For the best part of 18 months through…
With both the youth and reserve teams on a winter break, it’s time to take a look at some of this season’s key players and look at how they’ve been developing. The first in a series over the New Year period is Amin Affane. — As a general rule of thumb, a second-year scholar stands out amongst his younger team-mates in academy football. He is typically a bit bigger, a…
The Christmas edition of The Loan Report is something of an abridged one as a number of Chelsea’s young loan stars are spending the holiday season away from football, with their leagues enjoying winter breaks. Matej Delac and Ceske Budejovice went on hiatus earlier in the month and in the last week the Croatian stopper was joined by Jeffrey Bruma, Tomas Kalas, Ulises Dávila and Thibaut Courtois. Their league campaigns…
French Under-21 international Gael Kakuta will attempt to kick-start his career once again in 2012 as he will join French club Dijon FCO on loan from Chelsea, according to French sporting media today. Kakuta has spent the first half of this season at Bolton Wanderers but despite scoring in his first start for the club, he has been unable to work his way into Owen Coyle’s plans. Wanderers have struggled…
A spectacular brace from Nathaniel Chalobah ensured a superb end to Chelsea’s 2011 calendar as the Blues secured an impressive 4-0 victory away to Arsenal. The defender-cum-midfielder, who only turned 17 last Monday, opened the scoring in the first half with a cheeky backheel and after Romelu Lukaku doubled the lead with his fourth in as many games, Chalobah put the seal on things with a beautifully flighted free kick….