Branislav Ivanovic expects “a great generation of young players” to emerge at Chelsea next season and bolster the champions’ senior squad having been impressed by the impact made by Ruben Loftus-Cheek on his full Premier League debut.
The England Under-19 midfielder started against Liverpool on Sunday and featured for an hour in the 1-1 draw, operating alongside the experienced Mikel John Obi, having been promoted to train with the senior squad in January. Chelsea have also offered the likes of Dominic Solanke, Nathan Aké and Andreas Christensen a taste of first-team football this season, while Mitchell Beeney was on the bench against Liverpool and Isaiah Brown will make his debut at West Bromwich Albion next Monday.
The inclusion of the youth players suggests the club, who have won the FA Youth Cup in four of the past six seasons and won the Uefa Youth League this term, do intend to tap into their junior ranks in the years ahead.
“In my opinion we have a great generation of young players,” said Ivanovic. “They improve during training with us and they can be competitive in the team. They can make our squad bigger and, in the future, we can really think about [using] them. It’s not just Ruben. We have a minimum of five or six players who can be in our squad and it is great for the manager to give them a chance to play.
“Solanke, Izzy Brown, Christensen, Ake … these guys are already with us and they have showed they can play in training. In the next couple of games they will get a chance. It’s a great motivation for them. They’re still young, they need to fight. But this is the period, the next one or two years, where they need to prove they are really good.”
Chelsea’s burgeoning youth set-up has tended to supply players for other clubs in recent years, a strategy which has benefited their compliance with financial fair play regulations through sales. They have had around 30 players on loan in England and abroad in each of the last two seasons, including the PFA’s Championship player of the year Patrick Bamford at Middlesbrough. Yet José Mourinho has stressed the current crop would benefit more from training and fringe involvement around the first-team at Cobham than playing regularly elsewhere.
Loftus-Cheek – a powerfully built, 19-year-old, 6ft 3in midfielder – will remain at the club next season and has been earmarked to play more regularly in the senior side having completed his full debut with a 100% successful pass completion rate. “He’s going to be a Chelsea player, that’s no doubt,” said Mourinho. “We have other kids I also believe can perfectly do it: good work at academy level; good cooperation with us when the players go into the zone where they are almost but not quite there. Hopefully we have more in the future.
“In the last game [against Sunderland] I’ll play the players who have been the basis of the first-team this season. Against West Bromwich on Monday, because they’re safe and nobody is waiting for a result, I’ll play some of the kids: Nathan Ake, Izzy Brown, who comes from West Bromwich, so it’ll be special for the kid to play in that house … The boys deserve it, all of them, but I can’t give a special day for everyone.”
Chelsea have 11 players who have started at least 23 of their Premier League games this campaign, an indication that the youngsters’ development can bolster their squad options next term. “Ruben impressed everyone and I hope this is just the beginning of a big career,” added Ivanovic of a player whose previous first-team involvement had amounted to only 11 minutes on the pitch. “What I liked about him against Liverpool was he kept everything simple. He put the base high up the pitch. He can do a lot more than he showed against Liverpool, but he just needs the chance. I hope in the future we get one more great player.
“It’s the most difficult thing to find that balance [between blooding younger players and maintaining a senior core] because we are a team that want to win. But when we have the chance to give young players the chance to play and grow with us, it’s great. And it’s important for us next season to have a bigger squad.”