Youth & Reserves

A busy youth team Monday saw 16 year-old midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek reveal that he is set to sign professional terms at Chelsea, whilst the Under-18 team continued their winning ways in pre-season. Loftus-Cheek, an England Under-16 captain who has spent the entire summer with Dermot Drummy’s Under-21 squad, posted on his Twitter account that he has signed a pre-contract agreement to turn professional on his 17th birthday in January of…

Chelsea continued their positive pre-season form at Under-21 level on Saturday afternoon with a 3-0 win away to St Albans City of the Southern League Premier Division. Early strikes from Patrick Bamford and Adam Coombes put the Blues firmly in control and after substitute goalkeeper Sam Walker kept out a second-half penalty from former Watford man Micah Hyde, John Swift capped a fine day’s work for Dermot Drummy’s side. Jamal…

Chelsea’s Irish Under-21 international midfielder Conor Clifford is set to join League One outfit Portsmouth on loan after appearing for the club on trial today. The 20 year-old played 45 minutes for Michael Appleton’s cash-strapped side against Bolton Wanderers and has firmly attracted interest ahead of the new campaign. Portsmouth are still under a transfer embargo and must shed three further first-team squad players – including former Chelsea defender Tal…

You might have seen that earlier this week, news of the revamped structure for youth football in England was finally announced. Chief amongst the changes is the introduction of the Professional Development League; a three-tiered Under-21 competition ranked on academy grading designed at improving the quality of football between the ages of 18 and 21. Little more needs to be said about the failings of the old reserve system at…

The Elite Player Performance Plan and the associated restructuring of English youth football has been a subject hot on the agenda this summer. After a protracted negotiating and organising period, details have emerged today of the path forward from 2012-13 onwards. The old 40-team academy league, split into ten groups of four based roughly on locale has gone. In its place at the top level is a three-group, 23-team setup…

Todd Kane has been named Chelsea’s Under-21 team captain for the 2012-13 season, according to the club’s official website. The 18 year-old full-back was named as the man in possession of the armband in a piece published earlier this afternoon and follows him doing so away to Northampton Town last Saturday afternoon. It’s a positive reward for a player who has made huge strides of progress in the past two…

Chelsea’s Under-21 side continued their preparation for the new season with their first win of the summer over Northampton Town. A largely impressive performance against some very capable football league players was capped by a second half brace from 16 year-old forward Alex Kiwomya. Having returned from their annual training camp in Austria, the squad welcomed Todd Kane, George Saville and Patrick Bamford back into the fold following a brief…

According to reports from Sam Wallace in the Independent, Chelsea have agreed a deal for Slovenian centre-back Emir Dautovic to join Michael Emenalo’s youth revolution at Stamford Bridge. The Blues are believed to have struck a €1.3m deal with NK Maribor for the 17 year-old defender, who they have been tracking for some time and are now set to bring to London. Back in 2010, stories emerged from Slovenia claiming…

Chelsea’s Under-18 pre-season continued on Saturday morning with a 4-0 win over Bristol City. A second-half brace from Jeremie Boga – including a delightful free-kick – was sandwiched by efforts from Walter Figueira and George Cole as Adi Viveash’s boys bounced back from a 3-2 loss to Arsenal 24 hours earlier. Almost two dozen boys saw upwards of an hour of playing time across the two games as they work…

Friday morning saw the Chelsea Under-18 side back in pre-season action, as the first of their two visitors in two days to Cobham arrived in the form of London rivals Arsenal. Adi Viveash once again used the bulk of his squad as the focus remained on the players’ fitness at this early stage of pre-season. In a closely-fought and entertaining contest at Cobham the Blues went down 3-2, both Chelsea…