Josh McEachran and the sprouting shoots of Chelsea’s Academy

There he is. Staring at you. The future of Chelsea. The future of England? Who knows. As our youth football month continues on Just Football Philip Rolfe, man in the know when it comes to Chelsea youth, has more.

In 2008, Chelsea Football Club officially opened their new Academy and Community Centre. A state of the art facility five years in the making, the investment was made to safeguard the future of the club in being able to produce home-grown talents like John Terry.

It was the next step in a process which begun when Roman Abramovich bought the club, and one which followed the hiring of Frank Arnesen as Head of Youth Development in 2005. The Dane made a bold claim that the club would aim to produce one player for the first team squad by 2010, and one per season from that point on.

His words were much maligned and mocked, for many had tried and failed since Terry, the club captain, broke through a decade ago. Some, like Robert Huth, Mikael Forssell and Carlton Cole did well and flourished elsewhere into international footballers, but expensive teenage signings such as Michael Woods and Tom Taiwo did not provide the expected return.

Fast forward to 2010, however, and Arnesen may have the last laugh. Blues manager Carlo Ancelotti has a smaller senior squad at his disposal this campaign, supplemented by a fledgling group of players who are beginning to make their mark in the game.

Already this season Gael Kakuta, Patrick van Aanholt, Jeffrey Bruma and Josh McEachran have earned playing time, whilst a clutch of others – including 15 year-old Nathaniel Chalobah – have been named amongst the substitutes on occasion.

Seventeen year-old Oxfordshire born midfielder McEachran has attracted much of the attention, and it’s not hard to see why. A confident and composed figure, slight of build but silky of touch, he has made half a dozen substitute appearances to date and is the new darling of the Stamford Bridge faithful.

Injury thrust him into focus during the Carling Cup tie against Newcastle United, and in little more than half an hour McEachran had announced himself to English football. With his team trailing and down a man, he helped carry his senior team-mates to parity before a last-gasp elimination, but the star had already emerged.

An Under-18 debutant at 13, he caught the eye early and was training with the first team whilst still at school. Having played above his age group throughout his development, it was perhaps no surprise to see him involved in Ancelotti’s squad already.

He was a key part of England’s European Under-17 Championship success in May of this year, and whilst he has already made an impact at Under-19 level, the Football Association are believed to have even bigger plans for McEachran.

Rumours of a call-up to Stuart Pearce’s Under-21 squad this month abound, whilst insiders would have you believe that Fabio Capello has earmarked him as one to watch for Euro 2012.

Whatever happens, there is little doubt that he is the club’s most exciting prospect of a generation, and the poster boy of a progressive movement at Cobham. Elsewhere however, doubt reigns over the futures of two soon-to-be out of contract teenagers.

Gael Kakuta and Fabio Borini will be eligible to negotiate a contract with interested overseas teams in a little over six weeks time, and whilst Chelsea are keen to tie both down to long-term deals, little movement has been made, with both players concerned about their playing time at Stamford Bridge.

It is but a blot on a bright horizon for the club right now though. Sitting atop the Barclays Premier League, the Blues have a healthy number of players developing away on loan, a reserve team with an average age of many youth teams, and almost a dozen schoolboys having featured in academy league football in 2010/11 so far.

There are more Chelsea players representing England from Under-16 through to Under-21 levels, and, as perhaps shown by eleven year-old Michael Gyasi – signed from Northampton Town last month – it’s the club to be at.

Whether this group of teens – long since earmarked for greatness by academy officials – are the ones to break into regular football or not remains to be seen, but a mix of desire and circumstance has got things moving on the youth front at Stamford Bridge.

Philip Rolfe is a regular contributor to Just Football and an expert on all things Chelsea youth and reserves. He can be found on Twitter @chelseayouth

Chelsea, England, Gael Kakuta, Josh McEachran, Nathaniel Chalobah, Youth Academies, Youth Football