Chelsea’s incredible academy player stats after Maresca goes Cobham crazy | OneFootball

When Chelsea’s team news for tonight’s game against Djurgarden in the Conference League semi final second leg tonight came out, the big news was the presence of Reggie Walsh.

The 16 year old came on as a sub in the first leg, and went a step further tonight with a full debut. It’s a great moment for him – but things only got better for Chelsea fans who wanted to see more academy kids get a reward.

Cobham wave dominates Blues team by full time

Josh Acheampong battle for possession against Djurgarden.(Photo by Michael Campanella/Getty Images)

Also in the starting team tonight were Cobham boys Reece James, Josh Acheampong and Tyrique George. By the end, Shim Mheuka, Generis Antwi and Trevoh Chalobah had joined them. That meant a preposterous 7 academy players featured for Chelsea tonight, with 6 on the pitch simultaneously at the end of the game.

The youngsters all really made the most of their time – Walsh didn’t look at all out of place, George and Acheampong were excellent as ever in this competition, and even Antwi made the most of his limited minutes with some nice runs.

Enzo Maresca will be really proud of his efforts to use these academy kids, and so he should be. This is the sort of thing that keeps fans happy, and brings them players they have an innate connection with.

Next generation should be inspired by clear pathway

There’s also the effects on the academy – we hear time and time again how important it is for players coming through to see their peers get a chance – it makes them feel there’s a pathway, and a reason to sign new deals.

We’ve lost a couple of top talents (like Rio Nguhoma) in recent times, but we managed to persuade Acheampong to stay. Hopefully Maresca’s decisions in this competition will help us secure the next wave for the future.