Thomas Tuchel has explained why the five Chelsea youngsters who trained with the first-team squad this week will not feature against Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup fourth round.
The League One side travel to Stamford Bridge this afternoon looking to claim a famous result. Yet their task has been made harder by Tuchel's decision to go with a strong side for the contest.
Ben Chilwell will be absent due to his season-ending knee injury while Reece James is not yet ready to return from his torn hamstring. Ruben Loftus-Cheek will miss the contest due to a minor issue, meanwhile, Thiago Silva and Christian Pulisic have the game off having been on international duty.
And despite training with the first team on Wednesday and Thursday, Tuchel has confirmed Development Squad regulars Teddy Sharman-Lowe, Xavier Simons, Lewis Hall, Charlie Webster and Harvey Vale – all of whom featured against Arsenal last night – will also not be involved.
"In general yes [I want to give academy players minutes] but not tomorrow because tomorrow is not about youngsters," Tuchel said at his pre-match press conference yesterday.
"This game is about being ready after a one-week break and after one week of training. It’s about being ready and getting ready to win the next game and to restart the engines.
"It’s not about youngsters’ playing time. And with all respect, I like the guys but they play with the academy [against Arsenal] as they need to make sure their team wins this game. The professional squad will take care of the game tomorrow."
During the final days of the January transfer window, Chelsea received an approach from Championship promotion chasers Huddersfield Town to take Vale on loan for the remainder of the campaign.
That offer was rejected by the Blues and Huddersfield instead switched their focus to fellow academy graduate Tino Anjorin, who signed with the Terriers until the end of the season.
The decision to block Vale's departure was a bold one by Chelsea; the 18-year-old is ready for regular minutes at senior level and proved that on his Blues debut against Brentford in December.
Yet Tuchel believes Vale will benefit from being around the first-team set-up at Chelsea and says he was involved in the decision to keep the teenager at Cobham until the summer.
He said: "I am, of course, involved with Harvey. He is in a good place where he is right now and he has huge opportunities, like with everybody, to train with us and to show up. They had their game time. The squad is not too big, so it’s on them.
"I’m happy with them when we needed them. I have full trust in the head of the academy (Neil Bath) and the academy itself. At Chelsea, it will always play a huge part in this club, which is fantastic.
"It’s very important to personally have this connection and the opportunity to push youngsters, but not for this game [against Plymouth]."
