If there were still some people out there who weren’t aware that Chelsea were in this season’s UEFA Youth League, there won’t be any more, after they beat Molde 10-1 on Wednesday afternoon to get the ball rolling on another campaign in which they intend to challenge for honours. The Blues’ first-team’s failure to qualify for the Champions League left their Under-19s unable to enter the path of the junior-age…
Chelsea return for their fifth UEFA Youth League campaign this week with a different outlook on the competition than they’ve ever had before. Their debut in 2013-14 ended at the Quarter Final stage in defeat to Schalke before back-to-back successes under Adi Viveash in Nyon; the second of those was insufficient to allow them to defend their crown under the then-competition rules, with the first-team also failing to qualify them…
It was a fairly quiet week overall on the loan front for Chelsea but, when headlines were made, they were made in sensational fashion. There were none bigger than those achieved by Frank Lampard and Jody Morris at Derby County in midweek, so let’s start there. Headliners The Rams, of course, have Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori amongst their squad for the campaign, and both were in sterling form on…
Chelsea began the defence of their Under-18 Premier League Cup with a fine 5-1 win against Norwich City at Cobham on Saturday. The Canaries have struggled this season and were put to the sword by a clinical and efficient Blues side that had itself been subject to plenty of rotation. Thierno Ballo’s first-half hat-trick set them on their way, before Henry Lawrence and Jon Russell added to the tally in…
Another productive week for the Loan Army was headlined by goals from two England Under-21 internationals who are anything but strangers to stealing the show. Headliners Tammy Abraham scores goals in the Championship. He proved as much during the 2016-17 season at Bristol City, and grabbed his first in Aston Villa colours in midweek, opening his account in a 2-0 win against Rotherham. It was a very typical Tammy Abraham…
It was a good day for both of Chelsea’s main academy sides as the Under-18s and Development Squad each recorded 2-1 wins on Saturday. Andy Myers’ youth team were triumphant at home to a typically hard-to-beat Aston Villa, while Joe Edwards’ Under-23s retained their 100% record away from home with a 2-1 victory at West Ham United. With injuries, first-team commitments and even the Under-16s away at a Premier League…
We’re back from the international break with a full complement of loanees to catch up on, with the headlines this week belonging to Iké Ugbo. Headliners Ugbo will have found out a lot about himself over the past twelve months; his first loan in professional football was at Championship club Barnsley, where a promising start grew into winter frustration. He swapped the Tykes’ red for the white of Milton Keynes…
A report on Thursday’s Sport BILD carried rumours that FIFA are to ‘crack down’ on the excessive loaning of players by top clubs by limiting them to a maximum of eight per season, something that would supposedly cause no end of problems for the likes of Chelsea (40 out on loan currently) and Juventus (26), apparent player hoarders that they are. Cue hysteria: Ignoring for one moment that Manchester City,…
The international break usually means a break from the Loan Report but, with more a dozen young Blues still around and not getting any time off, we’re still going to check in on the latest news and views. Headliners The best performer over the past seven days has to be Yeovil’s Nathan Baxter, who recorded a fifth straight clean sheet in the Glovers’ midweek Checkatrade Trophy clash with Exeter City….
There are even more goals from the Championship in this week’s edition of the Loan Report as young, English hopefuls continue to make headlines. With the transfer window also closing in most countries on Friday, we’ll also cover the last-minute deals that took the Loan Army up to a record-breaking 40. Headliners Before the flurry of Friday deals, however, there was a midweek round of League Cup action for our…