Chelsea Football Club, under the new Todd Boehly/Clearlake consortium, have been extremely busy in the transfer market for both the men’s and women’s first teams.
Between them, they’ve signed over 10 players so far, with the women’s team close to announcing more additions in the coming days, and the men’s team still chasing key targets in the final days of the window.
However, there’s been an aspect of their transfer activity which has caught the attention, and that’s the purchasing of highly rated youngsters who aren’t immediately heading into the first team.
For Chelsea men, they’ve signed Cesare Casadei, 19-years-old from Inter Milan, for an reported £16m, and has gone straight into the development squad. England U19 international Carney Chukwuemeka has arrived from Aston Villa for a reported £20m fee.
Chukwuemeka has been more involved with the first team, but is yet to make an appearance for them.
His international team mate Omari Hutchinson has joined from Arsenal for an undisclosed fee, as has goalkeeper Eddie Beach from Southampton.
For the women’s team, Lucy Watson has joined from Championship side Sheffield United, and headed straight back on loan to Charlton Athletic and it’s only a matter of time before the signing of Alice Higginbottom, who last season was playing for Nottingham Forest, is announced.
So why has there been an apparent shift in transfer approach?
Well under the previous regime, the idea behind bypassing FFP restrictions was to sign low value players, send them out on loan and receive transfer fees with the player hardly featuring for the first team at all.
It didn’t always work, and tougher restrictions on the number of loan deals allowed means it’s no longer viable and doesn’t really benefit the club.
Instead signing youngsters with massive potential, means that the club could potentially have signed £100m worth of talent for much smaller fees.
This of course puts additional pressure on the first team coach to ensure pathways are available to these players, an issue which has been long standing at the club, something that certainly predates Thomas Tuchel and Todd Boehly.
For Emma Hayes and the women’s team, circumstances are totally different. Outside of Europe’s elite clubs, there really isn’t a transfer market to speak of, players run down contracts and move for free transfers on a regular basis,
There’s a feeling that this will change over the coming years, and perhaps Chelsea are getting ahead of the curve, but this has more to do with making sure these great talents don’t end up on our rivals doorsteps.
But again, this adds pressure to Hayes to create opportunities for these players otherwise they will simply leave when their contract expires. The counter argument for that of course though, is that if they’re good enough, they’ll make it impossible for Hayes not to play them, which although I agree with, you also risk losing talent that perhaps blossoms later.
Whilst Chelsea have spent (reportedly) more than £40m on young players who are not yet designed to play in the men’s first team, things are slightly different for the women.
Under FA rules they are not able to offer professional contracts to players until they reach their 18th birthday. Up until that point, these players sign deals to play within the academy, but are free to leave should they so choose to pursue opportunities elsewhere.
The club put a lot into development and coaching of these players, with the risk that when they reach that point of being ready to play, they are technically free agents.
Shauna Guyatt and Amelie Darey are two academy players who decided to leave Chelsea to find new opportunities, Guyatt (top) joined Championship side Crystal Palace, whilst Darey (bottom) took the US route, signing for Butler University in Indianapolis.
A source close to the academy set up told me that the top clubs are pushing hard for the FA to change the age to 16 so that they can secure more of their better players and have the ability to get them out on loan and experiencing top level football.
Other things also need to be in place, such as in house education that the men’s academy players receive, so that the girls can also get their GCSE’s and A levels alongside their footballing educations.
As we know, the money is not yet good enough in the women’s game for the players not to worry about a life after football, which is why we see so many of our team completing degrees.
This summer, Chelsea’s WSL academy won the Nike Premier Cup, beating Brighton 6-0, Liverpool 5-1 and Tottenham twice, 4-0 and 3-0.
Players such as forward Aimee Claypole, who had been involved with the first team last season, scored 8 goals in the tournament, and rival clubs will know that for a striker to break into Chelsea’s first team will be extremely difficult and will have her on their radar over the next year and a bit until she turns 18.
Of course this isn’t a Chelsea specific problem, every club has the same set of challenges and with Chelsea being one of the “richer” WSL clubs, it makes it easier for them to attract players like Watson and Higginbottom because of that financial aspect.
But as we’ve seen across the men’s and women’s team, if Chelsea can convince the best young players to sign for the club, they will continue to do so, so don’t expect Higginbottom and Watson to be the last teenagers to join Chelsea.
Because after all, the kids are alright.