Chelsea FC: Why Stockpiling Wonderkids Is Bound to Fail for Roman Abramovich

Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is in the process of assembling one of the greatest young squads on paper in recent memory.

The key phrase being “on paper” because it’s clear the Blues don’t know what they’re doing.

This article will tell you why stockpiling wonderkids is bound to fail for Abramovich. 

Lack of Intuition

Chelsea management have shown a lack of intuition when it comes to separating early bloomers from first team Blues' material.  

Jeffrey Bruma, on loan at Hamburg, is one of the worst defenders in the Bundesliga, but he's still on the books of Chelsea. 

Despite the Eredivisie's attack-first mentality suiting Gael Kakuta's panache playing style, he has been inconsistent as a Vitesse loanee. 

When does his contract end? 2015. 

Matej Delac's development has been stunted since signing for the Blues in 2010.

The club has had to loan him back to his original club (Inter Zapresic) which means CFC have now made two admissions that the Croatian keeper has regressed. 

The first admission was buying Thibaut Courtois from Genk. 

Let's look at the players Blues upper management, under the leadership of Roman Abramovich, let go. 

1. Nemanja Matic, DM, Benfica

The 24-year-old Serbian has been world-class for Benfica in a position which is an Achilles' heel for CFC. 

He's near unbeatable in the air, has excellent technique and is a strong ball-winner. 

If Benfica can sell a run-of-the-mill player in Javi Garcia for £15.8 million, they could extract a £25-30 million fee from potential Matic-suitors. 

"

Both outstanding. 2 best mids in Portugal. RT @dannydoes How would you compare Nemanja Matic with Joao Moutinho, with Serb's recent form?

— Tom Kundert (@Portu_Goal) March 19, 2013"

2. Daniel Sturridge, CF, Liverpool

The Englishman outperformed Fernando Torres as a Bolton Wanderers loanee and displayed the instinctive tendencies required in an elite goal scorer. 

Every reasonable Chelsea fan knew Daniel would be an upgrade in the No. 9 role. 

Everyone but management, who wanted to change him into a Hulk-esque inside-out wide forward. 

"

Daniel Sturridge, first 4 goals in just 7 games, £12m. Fernando Torres, first 4 goals in 43 games, £50m.No Offense Torres Fans

—Harrison Elijah™ (@Harrison34AFC) February 3, 2013"

3. Jack Cork, DM, Southampton

He's only received one yellow card in league-play whilst winning back the ball 91 times this season.

Writing for ESPN FC last November, Zonal Marking's Michael Cox named Cork as one of the league's best midfielders. 

Cork would slot straight into the Blues' starting XI if logic prevailed. 

Unfortunately, playing a box-to-box midfielder and a goal-scoring midfielder in the two pivot positions is more logical in the eyes of management. 

4. Fabio Borini, WF/CF, Liverpool

Filippo Inzaghi had a torrid season with Parma before going on to cement his place as one of the greatest goal poachers of his generation. 

Borini has high football IQ, great movement and is clinical in front of goal. 

He'll bounce back from a dreadful first season with the Reds. 

But, if Ryan Bertrand can start a handful games as a winger, why not Fabio? The Italian scored goals in a wide role at Roma. 

"

Read an old Ancelotti interview when at CFC, compared Borini to a young Pipo Inzaghi. Out & out finisher, exactly what we need. #LFC

— Simon Law (@syelaw) July 11, 2012"

Though, Borini's calling will be as a No. 9. 

5. Gokhan Tore, WAM/DLF, Rubin Kazan

The Turk is one of the most explosive players in Europe. 

Last season for Hamburg, he averaged 5.3 dribbles per game, which was more than Cristiano Ronaldo (1.9), Santi Cazorla (1.3), Jesus Navas (1.1) and Alexis Sanchez (0.9) combined. 

Why make a £7 million punt on Marko Marin, who was coming off his worst season ever, when Tore could have been moulded into a David Odonkor-type super-sub? 

6. Miroslav Stoch, WAM, Fenerbahce

Just a caveat, I haven't watched Miroslav at Fenerbahce, but he had some extraordinary individual moments on loan at Twente a few seasons back. 

Speaking of extraordinary, he is the current FIFA Puskas Award holder. 

Spending £9 million on Victor Moses in a role Stoch could have filled is senseless. 

Pointless Stockpiling

When football intelligentsia look at Chelsea's recent transfers, they'll notice one overriding trend: pointless stockpiling. 

The person who runs the transfer operations clearly plays himself as a No. 10 or a wide attacking midfielder on FIFA. 

Juan Mata, Eden Hazard, Oscar, Kevin De Bruyne, Lucas Piazon, Amin Affane, Victor Moses, Gael Kakuta and Marko Marin.

It would be a typical CFC decision to let Marin leave along with Yossi Benayoun and Florent Malouda in the summer. 

Then go out and buy a replacement despite having someone as talented as Affane in the playing group [1]. 

It's not just in the final third, the Blues management love right-backs. 

Here are the projected RBs for next season [2]: Branislav Ivanovic, Cesar Azpilicueta, Tomas Kalas, Wallace and Kenneth Omeruo. 

Kalas is like Ivanovic by aspiring to be a centre-back but ends up playing right-back for an extended period of time. 

Omeruo was solid at the heart of Nigeria's defence during the Africa Cup of Nations, though he's been a RB at ADO Den Haag. 

Wallace, Wallace, Wallace—what are we going to do with you?

He was selected as an outstanding player (along with Piazon) by FIFA's technical study group at the 2011 U-17 FIFA World Cup.

However, the chances of him playing with the Blues are slim to none. 

At least his compatriot Casemiro is on loan at Real Madrid Castilla, so he has a safety net in Sao Paulo should he fail to make it with the Spanish giants. Wallace's career could be stuck in-limbo a few years from now. 

We should expect this as Chelsea logic: overload on the right and don't worry about the opposite flank. 

The left-back situation at the club is looking precarious: Ashley Cole, Ryan Bertrand and Patrick van Aanholt. 

What happens if Cole goes down with a long-term injury next season? 

Bertrand is a woeful defender, hence why he's seen playing time in midfield.

PvA has improved in leaps and bounds, but his positioning is still iffy. 

[1] His troubles at Roda could turn off prospective loan moves next season.

He should be happy with being an impact sub/squad player with the Blues' first XI.  

Whenever I saw him at Roda, he was exquisite either as an inside-out threat or a conventional winger. 

There were murmurs of his insubordination but he says he was bullied by the manager (via London 24). 

A tweet by Pa Modou Kah, the former Roda stalwart, suggests Amin was in the wrong. 

Kah wasn't at the Dutch club at the time, but presumably he is still in contact with their players and staff. 

"

No players are above the club Amin Affane..Before pointing fingers at others take a good look in the mirror!!!

— Pa-Modou Kah (@PMKAH) March 21, 2013"

[2] No reason to extend the contracts of Paulo Ferreira and Sam Hutchinson. 

Not Loaning Best Prospects to English Clubs

Of all the Chelsea prospects, who is the most Premier League-ready? 

Romelu Lukaku (on loan at West Bromwich Albion).

Why do you think that is the case? Romelu has played EPL football this season—no s**t, Sherlock. 

Tell that to the Blues, who've loaned out Thibaut Courtois, Kevin De Bruyne and Lucas Piazon to leagues that are so different to the Premier League. 

Who cares if they've played in a Madrid derby, come up against Bayern Munich, or experienced UEFA Champions League action. 

All that means diddly-squat if the aforementioned three players come back to Chelsea and then struggle to acclimatise to English football.

It took David de Gea, a better keeper at Atletico Madrid than Courtois, an entire season (filled with a lot of lows) before the Spaniard finally started playing at the standard expected of him. 

De Bruyne speaks fluent English, is familiar with the English lifestyle, has family living in England and is of English ancestry.

What did management think was the logical move? They sent him to German side Werder Bremen.

Nigel Adkins would ask Piazon: "what position?," and start him for a desperate Reading team. 

The Brazilian is showing what a brilliant player he is with Malaga, not only with his vision but also crunching players with hard tackles like a young Michael Owen..

The Championship is also a viable route for CFC youngsters. 

Josh McEachran said moving to Middlesbrough is the biggest step of his career to date (per Louise Taylor at The Guardian).  

Nathaniel Chalobah is using Watford as a stepping stone into the senior football, which is much more constructive than warming the benches with Chelsea. 

Now, there is an exception to the rule in not loaning out English prospects to foreign teams.  

The partnership with Vitesse, which entails them to give preferential treatment to Chelsea loanees.

This has worked to the advantage of Tomas Kalas, Patrick van Aanholt, Gael Kakuta, Nemanja Matic and Slobodan Rajkovic.

Chelsea's NextGen

To know that Islam Feruz, who has been described as Romario-like, could possibly be a Blues' player for the next 10+ years is exciting. 

Lionel Messi averages 3.8 dribbles per La Liga game; Jeremie Boga's DPG at youth level is probably quadrupled that.  

Lewis Baker leads by example and may not have the highest upside, but he certainly was the most important player as Dermot Drummy's side reached the NextGen final (losing to Aston Villa). 

If you've ever wondered what it would be like to have Theo Walcott in a Blues shirt, look no further than Alex Kiwomya. 

Nathan Ake's name is often thrown about but Andreas Christensen has the makeup of an elite defender.

One thing we have to bear in mind is that the boys aren't playing in the Segunda Division (like Barcelona B), the 3. Fußball-Liga (Stuttgart II and Borussia Dortmund II) or in the Segunda Liga as is the case with a plethora of the Portuguese B teams. 

Chelsea's reserves play week in, week out against opposing teams with players that aren't even guaranteed to "make it".

David Moyes believes the standard of play at reserve level is lower than that of the Conference, let alone League Two, League One or the Championship (via Andy Hunter at The Guardian):

"

Four or five years ago I tried to put an Everton reserve team into the Conference because it would have been better football for them.

I thought the games would have been better, more competitive and more realistic for the players.

"

For every player Chelsea management sign to the first XI, they are stunting the progression of a prospect in their own system. 

Like Barcelona and Real Madrid, the Blues only realise this once that prospect is forced to leave and becomes a star in his own right. 

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Statistics courtesy of WhoScored.com, Fox Soccer and Squawka.com.