The stranglehold Chelsea had over youth soccer in England has dissipated. Between 2010 and 2018, the Blues’ U-18s featured in eight of the nine FA Youth Cup finals, winning seven.
Cobham churned out talent like few on the continent, so much so that when the club was struck with a transfer ban at the start of Frank Lampard’s first stint as manager in 2019 (which related to youth recruitment breaches), Chelsea refused to sink.
