Not only did Chelsea use up six members of their academy to beat AC Milan on Wednesday, the rotated XI that went out to face Wolves several days later had a backbone of Cobham graduates. Throughout the week, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Mason Mount, Trevoh Chalobah, Conor Gallagher and Reece James have all started matches, whilst Armando Broja came off the bench and Carney Chukwuemeka also made his first appearance.
There's a quote in there somewhere. If you're good enough, you're old enough. That's been the overriding feeling at Chelsea for a while, with more academy players appearing on a matchday at Stamford Bridge than in most elite teams, but still the demand for more.
Chukwuemeka himself hasn't come through the training base at Cobham, having signed as an 18-year-old for £20million from Aston Villa this summer, but his age is still worth noting.
