A Critical look at Chelsea's youth signings and The future: Enter Bertrand Traore and Out he goes!

Bertrand Traore is a good player. His signing for Chelsea is a good sign and a great move for Chelsea with its African support. Out went Babayaro, in came Drogba, Kalou, Geremi. Then there was Mikel and Essien. Out went Drogba and in came Victor Moses and later Etoo. Now, Bertrand Traore is in and (as alleged Essien may be going in January).

Because of the difficulty in getting first team action, I would rather he goes out on loan. But sadly, F.A rules (I dont know if it has changed) do not allow players signed to be loaned out within the same season. (That's why Lukaku had to stay at Chelsea first season even though Bolton were interested) and that's why most Chelsea players end up in other leagues, eg the Dutch league which is not as strict.

Problem however, is that those leagues do not develop players as much as one would have wished, compared to premier league clubs. In fact, only premier league loanees end up developing as required. Look at Sturridge at Bolton, Cleverly at Wigan, Wilshere at Bolton, Welbeck at Sunderland, Lukaku at Westbrom and now Everton and many others.

I have tried to compare those to the development of McEachran at Boro, Piazon, Atsu, Van Aanolt, Hutchison, Ulises Da Vilas, at Vitesse etc. Thorgan Hazard seems to be doing well in Belgium and so is Marin at Seville.

Kenneth Omeruo, has already won African Cup of nations but has not made his debut for Chelsea yet. Very few of us know just how well he played at ADO Den Haag or just how well he was able to outplay Didier Drogba during the semi finals of Africa Cup of Nations. The Premier League is however a different environment all together. You would imagine, an African Champion should easily fit in, but that is never the case.

My take is, its one thing to loan out players. The club needs to check and look at their development. If the Football Association still has its strict policies regarding loaning out players signed within the same season, then I would rather loan them out first season but on the second season get them premier league clubs. This will ensure players like Ulises Da Villas, Thibaurt Curtois, Kevin De Bryun, Van Aanolt are loaned to Premier League clubs the following season, to get accustomed to the premier league life. This has been Chelsea's main undoing.

Kevin De Bryun performed superbly for Werder Bremen and he was ranked highest in terms of assists and goals compared to Chelsea's MAZACAR trio. But he has been unable to stamp his authority at Chelsea. This is one talented player who from the look of things may leave Chelsea. What if he had been loaned to a mid table club, then the club would have made judgment at the end of the season. At Chelsea, the pressure is high, no room for errors and that means there's little room to learn, the stakes are high, every game is important.

Stephen Keshi the Nigerian coach has been very vocal advising Omeruo to leave Chelsea. His reason and I agree with Keshi, that this is a world Cup year and Omeruo needs to play regularly if he wants to get an opportunity to represent Nigeria in Brazil. Keshi is saying what the Belgian coach may have already told KDB.
Are we going to lose out on another young star? Nemanja Matic who is now rumored alongside Guarrin to join Chelsea is a former young player, who although identified early, his development was not well structured and as of last year, his buyout clause was 40million Euros.

Now, look at Romeu's loan at Valencia. He has done well both in La Liga and Europe League. But wouldn't have made all the difference if he was loaned to Southampton or Swansea? I mean look at what Liverpool did with Njonjo Shelvey to Swansea and look at how crucial player he is turning out to be?

I think Chelsea should look at how they structure their youth system with major focus being loaning players to EPL Clubs rather than foreign clubs.