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Another part of the trouble at Chelsea is connected to Chelsea`s Youth Academy. The way it`s spun, is that effectively, the academy is not fit for purpose. As supporters, we all want some of ‘the kids` at our club to make it through the system into the first team. Chelsea are relentlessly criticised in the media for not bringing the youngsters through. Famously, John Terry was the last one to make a real impact.
Currently at Chelsea, Charly Musonda is attracting the wrong kind of headlines as he believes he should be playing first team football. Musonda joined Chelsea`s academy at 16-years-of-age, from Belgian club Anderlecht. He spent a year on loan in Spain at Real Betis last season, where he made 24 appearances, scoring just one goal.
At the moment, he simply doesn`t have enough first team experience to make the transition from youth to senior football. He thinks he does, and that`s good but he doesn`t have the right to demand he be given the opportunity or hold the club to ransom to make sure he gets what he wants.
Some of Chelsea`s academy starlets are getting ideas above their station. Some have already left the club believing the grass is greener on the other side. Rather than mouthing off about a lack of opportunity, they should be getting their heads down to some serious hard work. That`s where success comes from, it`s a fact and it`s proven.
In the politically correct world we live in, these ‘kids` are given too much respect. I`m not saying they should be treated as the apprentices of the past were, but they a placed on a pedestal and they start to believe the hype.
They want first team football, they want more money, they want a bigger car. These ‘kids` have not yet made it, the lifestyle their new found riches brings, makes them think they have, but they haven`t. It must drive ‘old school` professionals mad.
Social media only adds to their problems, as Musonda recently found out. Now it`s being reported the Belgian ‘kid` is after a move away from the club in January.
He was given the chance of another loan this season but opted to stay at Chelsea with the hope of making it into Conte`s first XI. There`s no doubt the youngster has an abundance of talent and we all want him to make the step up. But, Antonio Conte, as the press want us to know, is under an increasing amount of pressure at Chelsea, given some poor recent results and performances.
Once again the media bods are engineering a self perpetuating story of gloom that they can attack Chelsea FC with. With Conte`s job under severe scrutiny by the media, he can`t afford to risk playing the likes of Musonda in the big games. He has to deliver success.
In fairness to the Italian, out of any of Chelsea`s recent managers, he has come the closest to integrating the youth into the first team set-up. It`s easy for supporters, pundits and press to get on Conte`s back, demanding Musonda`s inclusion, but it`s just not as simple as that for the manager.
What Musonda and the rest of the academy need to do is look at Andreas Christensen. The young Dane has gone about becoming a member of Chelsea`s first team squad quietly and efficiently. He has played the required amount of senior football to be deemed good enough to make the step up.
Having spent two seasons with Borussia Monchengladbach, he developed into a player that has just played the game of his life against Manchester United.
For all his belief and skillset, Charly Musonda would do well to knuckle down to the task of actually becoming a professional footballer, rather than discussing it. It won`t be easy, and although the career of a professional footballer is short, it`s lucrative, the rewards for making it far outweigh the effort involved.
Chelsea`s academy is very much fit for purpose as Andreas Christensen is proving. Outgoing Director of Football at the club, Michael Emanalo, called Christensen`s appearance against United at the weekend, the perfect leaving present. If those in the academy and development squads follow that model, they will have careers with Chelsea.
It`s a reflection of the modern age that these ‘kids` are not prepared to have the patience to fulfill the potential that Chelsea have invested in them. And that`s a shame.
When it comes to the academy and whether it works or not must lie with the owner. Why would Roman Abramovich invest so much into something that had no purpose? He surely wants it to work, it has potential to not only save him money but to actually make it as well. What`s not to like. With the formula for success now apparent, it can only be hoped that more Andreas Christensen`s follow.
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