Joe Cole believes Chelsea's academy is the shining light of the club and says the brightest thing Todd Boehly and his fellow new owners can do is to continue investing in the work being done at Cobham under the watch of Neil Bath and Jim Fraser.
Cole witnessed firsthand the transformation Chelsea underwent in the early years of the Roman Abramovich era. Trophies aplenty were won on the pitch while away from Stamford Bridge a new training complex – which included first team and academy buildings and facilities – was constructed in Surrey
That gave Bath and Fraser the platform to develop one of the world's most successful academies, which over the last decade has produced a consistent stream of players who have gone on to become full internationals for countries across the world. And several have made their mark in the first team at Stamford Bridge.
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Reece James and Mason Mount are undoubtedly the standouts in the current squad; both started the 2021 Champions League final in which Chelsea defeated Manchester City. Yet there are four more involved on a daily basis: Trevoh Chalobah, Conor Gallagher, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, and Armando Broja.
Then there are others who've departed – either permanently or on loan – in the not-to-distant past. Fikayo Tomori has become a Scudetto winner with AC Milan and will return to Stamford Bridge this week in the Champions League. Callum Hudson-Odoi is impressing at Bayer Leverkusen. Tammy Abraham won the Europa Conference League with Roma last term.
Chelsea haven't always made the most of the undoubted quality produced. The hope is that changes under the Boehly regime and Cole believes it is the shrewdest thing the U.S billionaire could do as owner and chairman.
“When I was talking to the guys (the owners) out in America, I said there are many things that can be changed, tweaked and improved at Chelsea, but the shining light is the academy. Neil Bath, Jim Fraser, and all the coaches there...I spent around 18 months there finishing my coaching badges after I retired and learned so much.
"A lot of people can use buzzwords, can call it a high-performance training centre for players and coaches, but it is more than that. The people in the academy are driving excellence every day from Under-6s to Under-23s, from pathways to the loan system. It really is the club’s shining light and I can’t speak highly enough of it.
"It’s not just the quality of players but it’s the quality of characters that come through. That is drilled into them. It’s like a university of football education but also for life as well. Not all the kids are going to make it but their experiences from boys to men, girls to women, it’s all spot on.
"I can’t speak highly enough about it. The brightest thing the owners can do is lean into that, keep the investment coming, and keep it at the top end of world football.”
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