Writing about the top 10 youngsters for a big club like Chelsea which has a lot of promising youngsters coming through the ranks is very hard, so I’m sure you won’t totally agree with my list.In order (for the youngsters) to be on this list, they should be Under 21 (So no Sturridge, Mancienne Or Jack Cork who are very talented but will feature on the list).
Let’s begin :
10. Billy Clifford
Billy has been at Chelsea since the age of seven. Billy’s natural pace and flair lends itself to him being a winger, but he often played in the middle of the park before settling as a right-back in his first year as a scholar at the club.
He has good individual skill and attacking instincts, but his passing and decision making needs a lot more work yet and he also get frustrated easily.
Most of the first half of the 2009-10 season for Billy was spent at right-back, where he was able to give good balance to the team when using the club’s diamond midfield formation. With the transfer to 4-3-3 his attacking instincts continued but he has been up and down, and needs to find some consistency. When he’s been good he has been very good, and has also been used in central midfield. The second half of the season saw further development and more appearances for Steve Holand’s reserves, after making a surprisingly early leap to the next level.
He played a key part in the club’s FA Youth Cup success, starting every match en route to lifting the trophy, and was rewarded for his progress with a professional contract in July 2010. Billy recently scored a hat-trick against Norwich city which we won 5-1,he was unsurprisingly named man of the match…and we’ll be expecting a lot more from this young lad.
Here’s the video where he scored a hat-trick, enjoy
9. Conor Clifford
Conor is a Chelsea fan and Irish Under 21 international who captained last season’s FA Youth Cup winning team, scoring the winner in the final against Aston Villa with the type of long-range strike that is fast becoming his trademark. He is a central midfielder who is hard working, strong in the tackle with good distribution.
He just came back from a loan to League One Side Plymouth Argyle where he has impressed in ALL of the matches he played and became a fan favourite. A player with great power and strength, Conor has a hard-working, tough-tackling approach to his game and has proven his ability to score from distance.
Conor Clifford lampard-esque FA Youth Cup winning goal can be seen here.
Video of him in action :
8. Jacopo Sala
An Italian Under 19 international, Jacopo is a versatile player, capable in a number of positions but predominately on the right. He has good game awareness as well as being a good athlete and is an accomplished set-piece taker. Now in his third full-time year at Chelsea, last season he appeared six times in reserve team action, and was a key figure in the FA Youth Cup success. During 2008/09 he was second highest appearance maker for the youth team with 24+3 games and eight goals.
7. jacob Mellis
A regular member of the England Under 19 squad, Jacob signed in the summer of 2007 from Sheffield United. Now in his fourth year, he is primarily an attacking midfielder but previously filled in at full-back and centre-back during 21+6 youth games in his first campaign.
In that first season he also made a full reserve team debut and was a main player in the Youth Cup run, scoring twice although he was sent-off in the Final. Jacob’s form caught the eye of Southampton, who took him on loan for the first half of 2009/10. He made 15 appearances.
A video of him in action can be seen below
6. Milan Lalkovic
Having impressed in Slovakian youth football, Chelsea offered Lalkovic a trial period in 2006. After a number of successful short spells with the Blues (including a four goal game), the 14 year-old signed a multi-year deal with the club to include a standard youth scholarship when he turned 16.
His first real action for Chelsea came in the Northern Ireland Milk Cup tournament, where Chelsea sent a younger team than in previous years. He stunned the watching crowds by earning rave reviews in the Irish press as the standout star performer in Chelsea’s team, finding the net to boot. His 2007/08 domestic season could best be described as a bit stop-start – with a large Under-16s squad, injuries and international duty he struggled to make a regular impact. That changed in 2008/09, when after good show in the Cobham Cup and good scoring in the Under-16s, he joined the Under-18 team early and both made and scored goals.
He can play on either wing or as an attacking midfielder and can occasionally play as a lead forward. He has great pace and trickery, and can fool a defender easily. His dribbling is his best asset and is a potential threat off either foot. He is also, quite remarkably, useful in the air and has more strength than you may first realize. As his development continues, he could do with developing alternatives when avenues are closed, and learn that giving a simple pass is at times the best option to take.
An excellent video about Milan Lalkovic can be seen here
