Much attention has been directed towards what could lie in wait for Chelsea this summer, particularly in relation to the transfer window following Todd's Boehly's takeover of the club.
In his first words following the £4.2 billion transaction, the US businessman referenced the consortium's 'commitment to developing the youth squad and acquiring the best talent, 'our plan of action is to invest in the Club for the long-term'. So, it will come as little surpise that the American's team have met with Neil Bath, Chelsea's Head of Youth Development, who first joined the club on a part-time basis in 1993 as part of the schoolboys coaching staff.
Those discussions have centred around Chelsea's Vision 2030 strategy. This is Chelsea's long term plan to ensure they can tackle the changing landscape of football and has seen the Blues make use of signings they have tracked in non-league - Mason Burstow spent time on trial at Chelsea while playing for Maidstone United - in addition to those they bring through and young players from other English clubs, partially as a result of Brexit.
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Vision 2030's ambition is to ensure a review throughout the academy's departments to ensure the Blues continue to prepare players for the first team. While it remains their long term ambition, it also takes up Bath's immediate focus.
Bath said: "Our attention will quickly be focused on the upcoming seasons and how we can improve and get better. One of the biggest parts of this is the implementation of our Vision 2030 strategy.
"We’ve had the opportunity to set this plan out to Todd Boehly and the new owners in a series of meetings, during which their feedback and backing has been really positive and encouraging.
"We had tremendous support from Roman Abramovich over many years and now we are really excited to be starting a new era with these new ideas, innovations and strategies at the heart of taking us forward. It’s an exciting time to be at the Chelsea Academy!’
The likes of Mason Mount and Reece James have made Chelsea's starting XI their home since breaking through under Frank Lampard, and while some have concerns over Thomas Tuchel having not fielded a teenager for the the Blues in the Premier League in 2022/23, Bath believes the development team have generally not stunted the growth of their academy products.
The Eamonn Dolan award recipient was quick to highlight the young talent the club sent out on loan, and specically wanted to mention a number of figures who could be challenging for a place in Tuchel's squad in July. Colwill's development was seen as part of a bigger picture, though it remains to be seen if he makes the step up this summer, but Bath's message will be one all prospects are keen to hear.
Bath said: "We’ve always tried to strike the balance between making our players available for a loan or allowing them to leave on a transfer as we don’t want to stunt the growth of an individual who is good enough.
"If you’re good enough, you’re old enough and we always push that. Levi Colwill is the perfect example of this as he could have been a great asset to have in the PL2 campaign this season but we recognise that the right thing was for him to play at a more senior level, which he has done ever so successfully this season with Huddersfield Town in the Championship. That is the bigger picture.
"Just to name a few, I want to say a big well done to Armando Broja, Conor Gallagher and Billy Gilmour for all making positive impressions in their loan spells playing for the first team of Premier League clubs."
With such quality out on loan, Chelsea saw a difficult season in Premier League 2 with a young squad. Talented stars such as Harvey Vale, Lewis Hall and Charlie Webster shone at the under-23 level but were still eligible to play under-18 football last term. A tense end to the season, which saw a London derby win against Tottenham ensure the Blues weren't relegated, may not have been what the club hoped for, but Bath believes the Blues were able to achieve a number of objectives.
He said: "Our first objective this season was to get our younger age groups back into a normal routine of football and education following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions, and also to get our support staff back on site again.
"Then of course we look at development across the age groups and I want to say a massive congratulations to our schoolboy players who have been very successful with a number of tournament wins and finals appearances. It’s testament to the hard work that the players and the staff put in on a daily basis.
"I want to extend my congratulations to the professional development phase as from a team point of view, we have seen our Under-18s win the Premier League Cup, while our development squad successfully escaped relegation on the final day of the season.
"The intention before the season began was not to be involved in a relegation fight but in this phase of development, it is very easy to find yourself in that situation. Our staff and players rallied together to overcome this, which was a huge positive and a real learning curve for them."
