In the first part of the Digging for Gold article we looked at our scouting network activities abroad. The part looks more at the local network and activities.
Sometimes what you are looking for is right under your nose and with this in mind, it would have been criminal for Chelsea as a club not to look around the immediate local and national areas for the type of talent that will continue to take an upward curve like gold prices in terms of potential and ability.
Despite the misfortune of the National Team at the last world cup, it's a strongly arguable case that England is amongst the biggest footballing nations in the world whilst not being the only nation to be under achieving in international competitions. It is only a matter of time before football comes home and Chelsea can be best pleased with their individual efforts.
In recent years the number of the club's youth internationals have increased steadily with Chelsea reportedly having the highest number of representations from u21 down to the younger age groups. While Sturridge's inclusion can be easily discounted due to the age he joined the club at, the inclusion of Mancienne and Jark Cork easily negates any negative argument that Chelsea are not playing a vital role in returning England to its rightful place on top of World Football.
At under 16 level, the highly rated John Swift, Jordan Houghton and Pacey striker Reece Mitchell are the clubs representatives. Nathaniel Chalobah represents at u17 with over a score of caps while still eligible to player for the under 16's. With the England under 18s team back in action in November,it would be interesting to see if Chalobah or any other Chelsea players are called up. Josh McEachran and Aziz Deen Conteh have replaced Jacob Mellis is the under 19 squad.
While Chelsea's ultimate ambition will not be to win England the world cup, emulating the famed academy of Barcelona in producing world class players capable of winning tournaments for club and country will be high on the agenda.
Despite Lionel Messi being the most famed latest super talent to come out of the Nou Camp in recent years, many clubs will look on with envy at the quality of players Barcelona has produced without having to continually raid South America for more youngsters like Messi.
Puyol, Xavi, Busquets and Fabregas are all products of the Barcelona academy that were born and raised in Cataluna, the region of Spain which Barcelona is the capital of.
Considering that London's population as recorded in 2007 is similar to Catuluna's as recorded in 2010, it goes without saying that there is a distinct possibility of replicating the success that Barcelona has had over here. It can even be argued that Chelsea have a better pot to pick from given the diversity of the Population in London.
Our Local scouts will have their work cut out now though as it was reported a while back that the club no longer recruit young players through generated interests from player agents and parents. The club has decided to change tack to making the initial contact with players they have been impressed with. Despite open trials day yielding decent academy prospects like Adam Phillip and Bobby Devyne, the club has decided to do away wit it instead opting for C.Vs to be sent in after which the club can decide to scout the players.
It is sometimes difficult for an academy to claim they produced a player if he is joining them at an age over 16/17. But its undoubted that while Chelsea tend to scout players around that age into the academy teams, they also have a focus on bringing in younger players between the ages of 8 - 15. When these younger players are acquired, its normally a hush affair with the publicising of the signings of Jeremie Boga and Micheal Gyasi exceptions triggered by the selling clubs. While Lewis Baker joining us as a 9 year old in 2005 was well publicised, there is no doubt that he is now a Chelsea academy product. Gyasi and Baker joined Chelsea from clubs in the professional league,however the sources of our other local youth recruits have varied.
Jonathan Muleba like many of the players in the younger age group seemed to have joined the club after starring for their local clubs, schools and districts in junior football competitions. Muleba was signed after a trial despite also having trialled for Arsenal. Adam Nditi joined after a 12 week trial having impressed in an under 13 league with his local team Down Grange. Ambrose Gnahore signed on after also representing his school in the Bromley & District Cup and neighbouring winger Fankaty Dabo from Thornton Heath has also signed up to the academy. Reece Mitchell featured for Brent's school boys via Copland Community College and Jonas Kebonga of the same school is scheduled to join the club next year.
The local scouting network are not ignoring grassroots level and there seems to be substantial evidence that Chelsea recruit youngsters from smaller local youth teams. Ben Killip (u14) was signed from Spartans Youth Fc who also had Daryl Sanders and Jack and Harry Taylor training with our academy teams in 2008. Highly rated young Asian goalkeeper Nikhil Rawal joined our academy while also featuring for his local youth team Hsm Youth FC and trialling for Arsenal back in 2005.
While many of the mentioned players above hail from in and around the London area, the academy have taken full advantage of their catchment area in terms of the travelling time that an academy player is afforded. Josh McEachran was scouted playing in the Oxford Mail Boys league for Garden City Fc. Isaac Christie Smith who represented Brighton Boys under 11s in the national school finals while attending Balfour Junior school in Brighton is now part of the successful Chelsea under 13s team. Both players seemed to have been scouted at locations that are just about inside the travelling time distance from the club under Premier League rules.
If reports are to be believed, players are not only recruited from the lower echelons of youth football as in the case of Ruben Sammut (u13s) who was reportedly signed by the club after spending 2 years at Arsenal's academy. His capture was not the first time we signed an academy prospect from a neighbouring London club though. Before Raheem Sterling's name became the one on every one's lips at QPR, Oliver Sprague was an academy player at QPR that was highly rated before we signed him as an 11 year old. We also acquired Billy Knott in a part exchange deal from West Ham. One thing they both have in common though is that they are no longer with the club and their status in youth football seem to have diminished slightly. And it is on that sombre note that it is worth remembering that none of the players named above are guaranteed to make it through to the first team.
