Chelsea might have made a rough start to the 2019-20 season having lost 4-0 to Man United on opening day and then going on to draw matches against the likes of Sheffield United and Leicester City.
But finally, they got their act back on track this past weekend when they beat Wolves 5-2 away from home and each one of their goals was scored by an academy graduate.
While Tammy Abraham ended the match with a hat-trick, the other two goals were scored by Mason Mount and defender Fikayo Tomori.
A large part of Chelsea’s success in the past has been based on players which the club have acquired from outside. But for the first time, fans are getting to see a bunch of youngsters playing together in the first XI.
And according to former Chelsea forward Tony Cascarino, this rapid growth of the youngster has much to do with the transfer ban imposed on the club.
“When we had the ‘Class of 92’ at Manchester United we applauded them for bringing all these young players through,” he said as reported by talkSPORT.
“Fergie was very fortunate to have such a group of players coming through at the same time.
“I’ve always been frustrated of Chelsea having so much success in the youth system but never having that conveyor belt of bringing those players through into the first team.
“Tammy was one of a good number of players who probably wouldn’t have been in the team if Chelsea had a transfer budget. They probably wouldn’t have been anywhere near the first team, Tammy would have gone on loan somewhere else.
“So let’s give Lampard some credit here because he has got choices at Chelsea, their squad is big enough not to play these young players. Olivier Giroud could easily have played at centre-forward yesterday.
“At the start of the season it probably would have been Giroud first choice, Michy Batshuayi second and Tammy third, but Tammy has become the number one choice in a matter of three games. That’s credit to him but also the manager because Frank has chosen to make that decision.
“Then you’ve got Mason Mount, Callum Hudson-Odoi waiting in the wings and Ruben Loftus-Cheek who is older than the others but you’d like to think he’ll play a lot this season.
“I’ve always thought it would have been such a mistake to have had all these great academy players and them not to have some sort of say in Chelsea’s future in the next five years, so I’m delighted.”
VERDICT:
Depending on the youngster was something that could have gone horribly wrong for Frank Lampard this season but thankfully the transfer ban came at the perfect time.
Currently, the Blues have a big pool of academy talents itching to break into the first XI so the new boss will have no shortage of enthusiastic players during the course of the season.
