COMMENT: It's significant the first Chelsea signing of the Frank Lampard era was a young 'un. And no, we're not talking about Hakim Ziyech and his much anticipated arrival from Ajax...
No, it's a teenager. A Finn. Like Ziyech, Jimi Tauriainen will formally be registered as a Chelsea player on July 1 - the 16 year-old HJK Helsinki prospect agreeing a three-year contract in early March.
Having trialled with Juventus and fielded interest from Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund, the significance of Tauriainen choosing Chelsea, Lampard's Chelsea, cannot be underplayed.
In less than 12 months, whether by fault or design, Chelsea have become a beacon for youth development. And the transformation hasn't gone unnoticed across football's landscape.
Those paying attention always knew of the great work being done below first team level at Cobham. Not just with the youth teams, but right down to the U8s and U9s. The likes of Reece James, Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori all having come right through the club's development system to be first-choices for Lampard's senior team today.
And it's that opportunity Lampard has granted this wave of academy graduates which is drawing the attention of young players - and their agents - across the globe. No longer is Chelsea viewed as a dead end for youth teamers. Indeed, some are now using the fresh approach Lampard has shown Chelsea's homespun as leverage against their own clubs.
Just consider Kays Ruiz-Atil, PSG's 17 year-old midfield schemer, this week. A player known to recruiting staff across Europe. A player with the ambition to quit Barcelona five years ago for PSG on the promise of a career path drawn up by the Parisians' academy staff. And a player now, fresh from a briefing after his agents had met with Chelsea reps, effectively using what has been happening at Cobham to warn PSG things must change.
"If PSG does not want me to train with the pros, there are other clubs," he declared this week.
"It will not end at PSG. There are clubs that have offered me to train with the pros and go down to the reserves for matches."
He didn't name-check Chelsea. Ruiz didn't have to. His comments arriving barely 24 hours after the French sporting press had broke that Chelsea were in touch. It's no coincidence Ruiz appeared to be parroting Lampard's comments just the previous week.
The Blues manager stating: "One of the first things we tried to do at Chelsea was to bring them in and train them, and give them the idea that if they train well in the academy it is flagged, not forgotten, and you can train with the first team."
Whether or not they push through with the Ruiz deal, isn't the important thing here. This column being told it's a decision that's relatively Chelsea's to make. What matters is that Ruiz - and those around him - have taken notice of how they now treat their academy players under Lampard.
Just last week Wagner Ribeiro, the long-time, hugely influential Brazilian player agent, revealed how close Chelsea came to landing an 18 year-old Neymar from Santos. Michael Emenalo, Chelsea's former technical director, doing more than anyone else to make the player's father sit up and take notice.
And of course, any devoted Blues fan will be well aware of those trials of an 11 year-old AC Bondy junior by the name of Kylian Mbappe around the same time. You know where we're going with this one...
But the question has to be asked: would Emenalo have had better luck with both players today? Would Neymar Snr have seen a better chance for his son's career with the changes Lampard has introduced? And to a greater extent, what about Mbappe's parents?
For his part, Kylian has never shied from admitting how impactful his time with Chelsea was. It only lasted a week, but he still speaks effusively about the experience today.
"It was a wonderful experience," Mbappe has said. "Chelsea was the first great club, the first big club, that I went to visit.
“So it was a real discovery for me. I was coming from my grassroots, amateur club. It was a whole new world.
“I always thought: 'I want to be there, I want to be one of those big players who is trying to give people fun out of the game'.
“And I have given everything to reach that objective."
Seeing the progress of so many from the U8s to the first team - and with a club the size and status of Chelsea. Would this have swung a deal in Chelsea's favour when it came to the Mbappe family deciding it was time for Kylian to leave Bondy?
Well, the Taurianen family, with brother Julius on the books at SC Freiburg and Dad Pasi a former pro, could well have given us the answer. And potentially, Kays Ruiz-Atil and his camp the same.
The Ziyech deal is a coup for Chelsea, but what's happening below the first team is just as significant - if not more. The changes Lampard has brought through are being noticed - and well beyond the Premier League bubble.
Comments
Post a Comment