There’s not a shadow of a doubt that Chelsea have some of the continent’s brightest young prospects in their academy, a fact cemented by their UEFA Youth League triumph recently. The young Blues are also the current holders of the FA Youth Cup and have reached their fourth successive final.
But opportunities have been rare and infrequent thanks to Jose Mourinho’s ‘Experience over Youth’ policy, but given a chance, these bright upcoming stars could take the Premier League by surprise come next season.
Here’s three such young stars the Blues must recall from their loan spells next season.
Patrick Bamford
Diego Costa has had his fair share of injuries in the last couple of years, and Didier Drogba seems to be well past his best and firmly into his twilight years.
Drogba has struggled with his movement and to adjust to the high tempo the likes of Hazard and Oscar like to play with, and this young Chelsea forward, currently on loan at Middlesbrough where he was smashed 19 goals in 34 starts this season, earning the Championship’s Player of the year honor, looks more than ready to graduate to the next level as a second/third choice striker for the Blues.
Bamford has proved in the Championship that he has a knack of finding the net at will, and the young Englishman could be a perfect replacement for the ageing Ivorian.