John Terry has claimed the Chelsea academy has players on a par with Monaco’s brightest stars despite Blues’ youngsters having struggled to follow in his footsteps.
Terry’s 22-year association with Chelsea came to an end on June 30 when his contract expired and the centre-back yesterday signed a one-year deal with Championship side Aston Villa.
The 36-year-old was the last player to come through Chelsea’s academy and establish himself as a consistent starter in the first-team.
Despite two Uefa Youth League titles and six FA Youth Cups since 2010 the likes of Dominic Solanke, Nathan Ake and Ryan Bertrand have been forced to go elsewhere to find regular first team football with opportunities severely limited at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea are not the only Premier League team without a clear pathway from the youth setup to the first team – the same criticisms levelled at the champions could be aimed at Manchester City – but their attitude to youngsters diverges sharply from European sides such as Monaco.
Leonardo Jardim’s side won Ligue 1 and reached the Champions League semi-finals with a squad of youngsters including Kylian Mbappe, now valued at over £100million, and the Chelsea-bound midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko. However Terry is convinced there are prospects as bright as the Monaco stars in the Cobham youth squads.
John Terry's career in pictures
“When I came through at Chelsea I was given five or six games to find my feet and probably wasn’t even ready then,” Terry said. “But I was given a lot of opportunity by the club, from the supporters, who wanted a homegrown player coming through.
“We’ve got so many at Chelsea who are ready. Monaco have a couple and everybody’s saying how good they are – believe me, we’ve got better players at Chelsea.”
Terry added: “Our boys are good enough, they just need the opportunity. Either that or they need to back themselves and go out on loan.
“What a lot of them do is get in the comfort zone at Chelsea, Man City or Arsenal and think ‘I’m happy here.”
