The best way to bring young players through

[Andy S]

Is to need to. Why buy when you can cultivate new players as well as anyone else. We have as good an academy at our level as anyone else. However if you bring through players with natural ability you can do no better as a football club. Mo Al Fyad set it up but at the minute we seem to be producing one player per season. We certainly will not be giving these guys the best chance by buying top quality players to put ahead of them. So let's hope the gaps we have can be filled by the academy

[Woolly Mammoth]

Let us hope so.

[Roberty]

I would doubt many on here would not want the club to bring in better players and I believe we do give young players the opportunity to develop

I can think of few players who have been released by us after leaving the Academy who have become stars in the senior leagues and until the Khan take over the only most recent graduate, who we I can remember , and who we got a good fee for was Sean Davis.

Of those who graduated - "having demonstrated star quality" - during the Khan era:-

Roberts was sold off to Man C after refusing to sign a new contract and in retrospect, considering his lack of spectacular progress, that was good business

Dembele also refused to sign a new contract and walked to a club in a "foreign league" meaning we only got a nominal fee for him - given his value has soared since we have seriously lost out there out there

So yes we can thank MAF for the investment and after years of nurturing we are getting some output at last, but I don't think it has failed since SK took over and I believe his further investment means that MAF's legacy is at last starting to bear fruit.

An Academy is a long-term project and the number of top quality graduates is always going to be small - it is the case for all clubs and we are fortunate that in the last few years a promising number are beginning to come through

It is a pity that MAF is not here to see it bear fruit but I'm sure that even though he hates the fact that SK removed his beloved MJ statue he is pleased to see that SK has recognised the need for the Academy he established and that he's continued to invest in the development of young players

[colinwhite]

One problem is that there is a huge gulf between being a top youth player and establishing yourself as a pro.Talent is important along with lots of other factors. Being a top academy player guarantees in no way that you Will make it at professional level ,let alone become a top player. Chelsea buy the best talent at aged 15-18 around but very few make it to the highest level of the game.

[therealjaybee]

One problem is that there is a huge gulf between being a top youth player and establishing yourself as a pro.Talent is important along with lots of other factors. Being a top academy player guarantees in no way that you Will make it at professional level ,let alone become a top player. Chelsea buy the best talent at aged 15-18 around but very few make it to the highest level of the game.

Chelsea do buy A LOT of youth but saying few make it to the highest level isn't quite right.

Rohan Ince
Jeffrey Bruma
Jacopo Sala
Josh McEachran
Tammy Abraham
Ruben Loftus-Cheek
Nathan Ake
Bertrand Traore
Nathaniel Chalobah
Fabio Borini
Patrick van Aanholt
Jack Cork
Ryan Bertrand
Scott Sinclair
Liam Bridcutt
Andy King
Michael Mancienne
Carlton Cole

You could put together a VERY handy Championship side and hold up in the Premier League with most of those players. I'd say about 1-2% of players that come through a youth system actually make it into a team in the same league or even the league below. Chelsea do a great job really and Fulham wouldn't be far behind! We should definitely be proud of what we do but sending players out on loan to give them first team experience is surely the best way to develop them

[therealjaybee]

A Fulham list to follow up too

R. Sessegnon
Patrick Roberts
Moussa Dembele
Emerson Hyndman
Kerim Frei
Alexander Kacaniklic
Zat Knight
Darren Pratley
Sean Davis

Pretty decent really considering most of those players played in the Premier League at some point in their career

[SouthfieldWhite]

One problem is that there is a huge gulf between being a top youth player and establishing yourself as a pro.Talent is important along with lots of other factors. Being a top academy player guarantees in no way that you Will make it at professional level ,let alone become a top player. Chelsea buy the best talent at aged 15-18 around but very few make it to the highest level of the game.

Yes Chelsea do buy Youth players , they can afford to by the better ones, but to be fair to them a lot do come through from the very early ages so they are doing something right also coaching wise.
The season before last FA Youth Cupwinning team, the vast majority started off at under 8s and came through the age groups.

They seem to get the pick of the best really young ones by their name also.
Other club scouts basically have to be good salesmen to try and convince parents of these U7s etc to sell the club they work for and convince them don't just go for the big name.
A pathway into the first team is a massive selling point so with our youngsters getting a chance in the first team, it's important to show parents there is that pathway into the clubs first team.

So Fulham playing young boys who have come through the academy has a bigger reason than to just say we've got boys from the academy in the first team, it shows a much bigger sign to potential new academy players.

[PokerMatt]

One problem is that there is a huge gulf between being a top youth player and establishing yourself as a pro.Talent is important along with lots of other factors. Being a top academy player guarantees in no way that you Will make it at professional level ,let alone become a top player. Chelsea buy the best talent at aged 15-18 around but very few make it to the highest level of the game.

Chelsea do buy A LOT of youth but saying few make it to the highest level isn't quite right.

Rohan Ince
Jeffrey Bruma
Jacopo Sala
Josh McEachran
Tammy Abraham
Ruben Loftus-Cheek
Nathan Ake
Bertrand Traore
Nathaniel Chalobah
Fabio Borini
Patrick van Aanholt
Jack Cork
Ryan Bertrand
Scott Sinclair
Liam Bridcutt
Andy King
Michael Mancienne
Carlton Cole

You could put together a VERY handy Championship side and hold up in the Premier League with most of those players. I'd say about 1-2% of players that come through a youth system actually make it into a team in the same league or even the league below. Chelsea do a great job really and Fulham wouldn't be far behind! We should definitely be proud of what we do but sending players out on loan to give them first team experience is surely the best way to develop them

But with that list his point is right. None of those have or probably will make it to the highest level.

I'll assume highest level means regular Premier League for the sake of this argument. You can probably make a case for three in that list. And none have actually been regulars for Chelsea. I think for their buying every youth player under the sun tactic to work I'd want at least some of those to be good enough to break into the first team. Not just developing a half decent championship side.

[therealjaybee]

One problem is that there is a huge gulf between being a top youth player and establishing yourself as a pro.Talent is important along with lots of other factors. Being a top academy player guarantees in no way that you Will make it at professional level ,let alone become a top player. Chelsea buy the best talent at aged 15-18 around but very few make it to the highest level of the game.

Chelsea do buy A LOT of youth but saying few make it to the highest level isn't quite right.

Rohan Ince
Jeffrey Bruma
Jacopo Sala
Josh McEachran
Tammy Abraham
Ruben Loftus-Cheek
Nathan Ake
Bertrand Traore
Nathaniel Chalobah
Fabio Borini
Patrick van Aanholt
Jack Cork
Ryan Bertrand
Scott Sinclair
Liam Bridcutt
Andy King
Michael Mancienne
Carlton Cole

You could put together a VERY handy Championship side and hold up in the Premier League with most of those players. I'd say about 1-2% of players that come through a youth system actually make it into a team in the same league or even the league below. Chelsea do a great job really and Fulham wouldn't be far behind! We should definitely be proud of what we do but sending players out on loan to give them first team experience is surely the best way to develop them

But with that list his point is right. None of those have or probably will make it to the highest level.

I'll assume highest level means regular Premier League for the sake of this argument. You can probably make a case for three in that list. And none have actually been regulars for Chelsea. I think for their buying every youth player under the sun tactic to work I'd want at least some of those to be good enough to break into the first team. Not just developing a half decent championship side.

I think what Chelsea do actually benefits world football in general! Do you think Kalas or Piazon would have been at Fulham (or even in the Championship) if it weren't for Chelsea buying them very early in their careers?

[PokerMatt]

One problem is that there is a huge gulf between being a top youth player and establishing yourself as a pro.Talent is important along with lots of other factors. Being a top academy player guarantees in no way that you Will make it at professional level ,let alone become a top player. Chelsea buy the best talent at aged 15-18 around but very few make it to the highest level of the game.

Chelsea do buy A LOT of youth but saying few make it to the highest level isn't quite right.

Rohan Ince
Jeffrey Bruma
Jacopo Sala
Josh McEachran
Tammy Abraham
Ruben Loftus-Cheek
Nathan Ake
Bertrand Traore
Nathaniel Chalobah
Fabio Borini
Patrick van Aanholt
Jack Cork
Ryan Bertrand
Scott Sinclair
Liam Bridcutt
Andy King
Michael Mancienne
Carlton Cole

You could put together a VERY handy Championship side and hold up in the Premier League with most of those players. I'd say about 1-2% of players that come through a youth system actually make it into a team in the same league or even the league below. Chelsea do a great job really and Fulham wouldn't be far behind! We should definitely be proud of what we do but sending players out on loan to give them first team experience is surely the best way to develop them

But with that list his point is right. None of those have or probably will make it to the highest level.

I'll assume highest level means regular Premier League for the sake of this argument. You can probably make a case for three in that list. And none have actually been regulars for Chelsea. I think for their buying every youth player under the sun tactic to work I'd want at least some of those to be good enough to break into the first team. Not just developing a half decent championship side.

I think what Chelsea do actually benefits world football in general! Do you think Kalas or Piazon would have been at Fulham (or even in the Championship) if it weren't for Chelsea buying them very early in their careers?

I think we'll differ on Chelsea's business style as being good for football.

Maybe they wouldn't be at Fulham, but I would hazard a guess they would be at clubs who own them and they wouldn't have so much uncertainty in their careers. I think they're at their level with us, so why do they need to be contracted to the champions of England?

[Holders]

Every player is home-grown somewhere and we have more than our share of young talent. The problem was that when Roberts and Dembele came through we couldn't offer them the PL football that they wanted. That's another debate but so long as we have a PL standard academy and not in the PL we remain at risk of haemorrhaging our best youngsters.

Sess is an exception for this year at least but the risk is enhanced if we don't go up this year.

[Andy S]

Most successful clubs outside the prem have a good percentage of home grown talent within their squad. This is topped up in various weak positions. However the big problem is holding on to these players for any length of time. A team needs to be built quickly before the exodus begins.None of this is helped bY FFP as if you have overspent the year before you need to balance the books

[Holders]

Most successful clubs outside the prem have a good percentage of home grown talent within their squad. This is topped up in various weak positions. However the big problem is holding on to these players for any length of time. A team needs to be built quickly before the exodus begins.None of this is helped bY FFP as if you have overspent the year before you need to balance the books

Yes, the incentive has to be there for them to stay; not all are satisfied with being loaned out until they're ready - unless you've gone to Man City on megabux and loaned to Celtic.

[filham]

A Fulham list to follow up too

R. Sessegnon
Patrick Roberts
Moussa Dembele
Emerson Hyndman
Kerim Frei
Alexander Kacaniklic
Zat Knight
Darren Pratley
Sean Davis

Pretty decent really considering most of those players played in the Premier League at some point in their career

Sean Davis is the player in that list who was a real success for us and he was pre academy. The academy's record at providing us with players who go on to become regular first teamers is poor. In the last few years there have been players that tempted us to think we had unearthed something exceptional but then they just seemed to fade away.

Fulham fans will always react well to a home grown player in the team and we are desperate to see one again, lets just hope that Sess. continues to develop into a first team regular.