Mauricio Pochettino has always placed stock on local players at his clubs and is intent on doing the same at Chelsea. Luckily for him there one of the best forms of access to youngsters at Cobham and they are already set to have a major part to play under him.
His Tottenham side between 2014 and 2019 were built on the foundation of Danny Rose, Eric Dier, Harry Winks, Tom Carrol and most notably Harry Kane. "The Under-17s, Under-19s and Under-21s make me believe even more in English talent and everyone realises, 'Oh we have good talent in our boys.' It's important to see," he described in 2017.
It allowed him at both Southampton and Spurs to hand players debuts throughout his tenure with many going on to earn international recognition including Adam Lallana, Ricky Lambert and Luke Shaw. Chelsea have had a similar crop come through their system in recent years.
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Since 2019, Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham, Reece James, Fikayo Tomori, Billy Gilmour, Conor Gallagher and Calum Hudson-Odoi have all represented their countries. Ruben Loftus-Cheek made his debut in 2018; before that it was six years back to 2012 before the last new England or Scotland international to come from the club.
Although not all those players ended up remaining at Chelsea, the core was built around their talent and opportunities were given much like Pochettino's description. Even this past week Frank Lampard opening first team training to the club's Under-14 captain.
"Of course, we can build a very good core of English players with our identity, coming through our academy, and players coming outside of England and English players coming from different clubs," Pochettino added at the time. "It's an exciting challenge for us and exciting philosophy for us to build."
At Chelsea there is a path to rebuild after confidence has been lost in recent years that there is a true way into the first team. Marc Guehi and Tino Livramento moved on to Premier League clubs with ease and have impressed at Southampton and Crystal Palace. The true meritocracy for young players has been doubted with underperforming stars offered more chances than those from within.
It is one of the many challenges that awaits Pochettino at Chelsea but one he is willing to take on. According to the Evening Standard he is already generating plans for the newest wave of English players to form a core at the club with Gallagher and Levi Colwill amongst those central to the plan.
The issue that could grate from within is that Chelsea also see academy players and homegrown talent as the best source of sellable assets due to their pure profit on the accounting books and lower wages. Gallagher, as well as Callum Hudson-Odoi and Trevoh Chalobah have all been linked with moves away due to their standing in the team. It is easier to sell them than justify Hakim Ziyech's place, for example.
For Pochettino, not only will he be able to work with the next generation coming through at Cobham, those that many have not yet heard of, he will also have an immediate impact on the futures of those that are already in and around the squad. Gallagher, for example, could fetch £40m and has interest for that price. Hudson-Odoi has a career high value of £30million (according to Transfermarkt) and had a bid of £70million bid for him turned down in 2019.
Mount has a £60million price tag hanging over his head going into a decisive summer for him with a new deal being sold or a transfer away pending. Pochettino's arrival is only a boost for Chelsea's desire to keep hold of him. Whilst Colwill is admired across Europe by some of the best sides, his boyhood club already see him as an integral part of next season.
He is already amongst the top-rated defenders of his age-bracket and has a £14million valuation online but would command in advance of double that to even get Chelsea to entertain a conversation over his exit. In all, that group, plus the return from injury for Armando Broja and rise of Lewis Hall and Carney Chukwuemeka, provide a healthy core for Pochettino to dig into and develop.
Broja himself was subject to offers of £30million last year having only scored eight top flight goals on loan at Southampton the previous season. His promise will be that he could become the new answer to Kane. Big shoes to fill and nobody expects him to get close. But if the academy graduate can come back fit and firing, there is a spot for him in the squad.
Holding onto the players they have at their disposal is the only barrier between them and handing the Argentine coach exactly the foundation he is planning.
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