Since Chelsea integrated Mason Mount, Reece James, Billy Gilmour, and Tammy Abraham into the first team, there has been an expectation for the Blues to use their youth at any given opportunity.
The harsh reality is that that has never truly been the 'Chelsea way'. The Blues have left the Roman Abramovic era, but there are still traces of his legacy being left behind. It's not a negative entity in the way Chelsea has been run, but it's a habit that many would like to leave behind.
The treatment of Chelsea Academy graduates hasn't always been placed in a positive light. The failure to regularly integrate youth into the first team was frowned upon but masked by continuous success. Now that Frank Lampard and Thomas Tuchel had set the tone and shown what can be achieved with Cobham graduates at the team's core, fans are demanding more.
Levi Colwill is thought to be the next up from the academy. He has been praised highly and placed in the same potential bracket that Mount and James once were. With that being said, he may not feature in Chelsea's upcoming season, and that comes as a sad surprise to many. His season on loan to Huddersfield was extremely promising, yet the Blues are set to buy three new centre-backs to take his place in the pecking order. There's an explanation for everything, and Thomas Tuchel has given us one.
Speaking in Los Angeles after pre-season training, he spoke about the academy players and the willingness to protect them.
"You always need to find the balance between protecting the path for the guys from the academy and for being able to win," the Chelsea head coach said. "It also doesn't help a young player just to rely on him, and he can't deliver in the first weeks the level that we expect from him, and the fans expect. That would help nobody.
Colwill is just 19 years old. Despite showing the quality that could place him in the ranks of those older than him, experience is a key factor in playing in a team like Chelsea. Experience and reliability. Trevoh Chalobah is a unique case where the manager trusted a youngster early on in pre-season as he proved himself to the extent that Tuchel could not send him out on loan again. Colwill will have to make that same impression, and there's nothing wrong with that.
There are a number of Premier League clubs after the 19-year-old treasure, including Leicester City and Southampton. Chelsea must do well to avoid making past mistakes as they did with Fikayo Tomori and Marc Guehi - selling on two exceptional talents without a buyback clause in sight. The option for Colwill to be loaned is still on the table, as is the option for him to be sold.
Tuchel continues,
"It's in the players' hands – I will never judge somebody because of age or because he is from the academy or from a fantastic club in Europe. That does not matter.
"They are responsible for their career, and of course, if we can sign somebody that guarantees a higher quality at the moment, this is the way that young guys learn from these signings. Or if we think it's better to be on loan, then this is the way."
The Roman Abramovich way of treating the youth would be to send them out on loan, maybe sell them if necessary and bring in more experienced, higher quality players. It's a harsh reality that fans had to deal with. Fortunately, it seems as though Tuchel is playing it fair here. There's no doubt that he wants to compete with the best teams in Europe, as does Todd Boehly. To do so, you need to have the best players around. Colwill can have the privilege of learning from Kaldou Koulibaly next season and progressing his game to even higher heights.
Chelsea are also linked with Presnel Kimpembe, who was once in Colwill's shoes. A promising young defender who needed a chance in the first team. Once given the opportunities, he slowly took Thiago Silva's place in the squad and thrived in his senior career. The Blues would be unfortunate to sell Colwill, but at the end of the day, as Tuchel said, it's in the player's hands.
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