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The Chelsea U23 squad are where the club’s brightest young players develop their skills.
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Chelsea’s business model depends on preparing these players for senior football.
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Many of its graduates have found success both at Chelsea and elsewhere.
History
The Chelsea Under-23s have in recent years competed at the highest level of reserve football in England, Premier League 2. The team mainly consists of under-21 players and occasionally senior players looking to regain fitness.
Generally, players must be under 23, which for the 2021/22 season meant all players born after January 1st 1998. However, participating teams can play a goalkeeper over the age limit, and up to three outfield players.
Premier League 2 is a relatively new competition, replacing the Under-21 Premier League in 2016, and consists of 14 teams.
The change was made to allow clubs to develop players differently, focusing on physicality, intensity, and technical skills in an attempt to bridge the gap between youth and senior football.
Those who enjoy sports betting will be keeping a keen eye on the latest talents being developed by Chelsea.
Chelsea U23 Former Players
Many top-class footballers have represented Chelsea football club at U23 level, going on to represent the senior side or finding success elsewhere.
An obvious example is John Terry, who joined Chelsea’s youth ranks aged 14, making almost 500 appearances for Chelsea and winning every major trophy along the way. In 2005 Terry was named PFA Player of the Year and will forever be a stonewall legend in West London.
Other notable names include Graeme Le Saux, Robert Huth and Carlton Cole while historically, many greats have passed through Chelsea’s famed academy, such as Jimmy Greaves, Ray Wilkins, Peter Osgood and Terry Venables.
In more recent times a host of players have broken into the first team which is a testament to the faith, and investment, the club has put into their youth system.
Trevoh Chalobah is the latest young star to emerge, following on from Mason Mount, now a first team regular and England star, plus Callum Hudson-Odoi, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Reece James and Andreas Christensen.
These home-grown stars are a key component of Chelsea’s recent success, and many putting on football bets today will be tipping the team for more trophies as a consequence.
Somewhat controversially Chelsea loan out a great many of their brightest young talents, but from a positive standpoint a few of them are getting rave reviews at other clubs in 2021/22.
Conor Gallagher is already a firm fan favourite at Crystal Palace while the diminutive schemer Billy Gilmour is getting valuable game-time at Norwich City.
Welsh youngster Ethan Ampadu is at Roma and Armando Broja is a goal-scoring plus at Southampton. For others, such as Patrick Bamford, Tariq Lamptey and Nathan Aké, success is found via permanent moves to other clubs.
Best Chelsea U23 Players
As expected, the current U23 line-up at Chelsea includes a wealth of young talent looking to break through.
At the back, Finnish goalkeeper Lucas Bergström is considered one of the hottest properties in Europe while defender Xavier Mbuyamba is expected to rise to the top despite being hampered by injuries of late.
But this is a squad full of goals. One player with an eye for goal is Harvey Vale, who operates as a left midfielder or in the No. 10 role. He has been praised for his calmness in possession and ability to link up play with teammates.
Norwegian U19 international Bryan Fiabema meanwhile, has quickly made an impression at Chelsea after arriving in 2021, offering a physical presence and the ability to score on an almost weekly basis.
Another player who has hit the goal trail is the young sensation – and fabulously named - Jude Soonsup-Bell, who plays with a maturity beyond his years and has already hit four goals in a single game.
His killer instinct makes him one to watch. Unsurprisingly, given the high ceiling of talent on display, many Premier League predictions hint at more of these young stars breaking into the senior team in seasons to come.
Coach
The U23 team are coached by ex-pro Andy Myers, who began his senior playing career at Chelsea, making 106 appearances between 1991-99.
He was a product of the Chelsea Centre of Excellence and was voted the club’s Young Player of the Year for the 1990/91 season.
He was also capped by England at U20 and U21 level. Though never a first-team regular at the Bridge – a situation not helped by persistent injuries - Myers was a valued part of the Chelsea squad that won the FA Cup in 1997 and the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1998.
After the end of his playing career, he returned to Chelsea and was soon-after installed as the assistant to the U23 coach Joe Edwards.
In 2018, Myers was appointed as coach of Chelsea’s U18 team and a season later he was promoted to the U23 Squad as head coach, where he has overseen the latest batch of youngsters coming through ever since.
With one of the highest Premier League wage bills, it is even more important that the club can develop young talent.
Stadium
Until the 2019-20 season, the U23 team played most of their matches at Aldershot’s Electrical Services Stadium, originally named the Recreation Ground.
Since then, the team has moved its base for matches to Kingsmeadow, the former home of Kingstonian Football Club. The ground hosted its first match in 1989 and has a capacity of 4,850, with 2,265 seats.
In 2017 Chelsea bought the stadium from AFC Wimbledon, who owned the lease. With ownership secured, Chelsea’s aim was to eventually move several of its teams to play there, and the ground is also home to Chelsea’s women’s team.
Both the U23 and U18 teams do occasionally use the club’s home ground Stamford Bridge for some of their bigger games and must host at least three games there each season.
This is to help young players acclimatise themselves to the experience of playing senior football.
Honours
The U23 team has enjoyed some significant success in recent years, winning the league on two separate occasions. Their inaugural triumph was in 2013/14, when officially labelled an U21 side.
After the creation of the Premier League 2 however, Chelsea achieved further glory in 2020. That season was unfortunately curtailed by Coronavirus but Chelsea were still declared champions with the highest points per game average.
Yet it is the U18 team that has experienced the greater success, sweeping all before them for much of the past decade, most notably when they won the FA Youth Cup seven times in nine years between 2009 and 2018, including five successive triumphs from 2014 to 2018.
The mini-Blues were also U18 Premier League champions on two occasions during this period, Southern Champions on three occasions, and won the UEFA Youth League in 2015 and 2016.
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to AP Photo*
