Guus Hiddink's Investment in Youth Will Only Work If Chelsea Follow Suit

Too often Chelsea have started one of their many "projects" only to lose courage at the vital moment and take another direction.

It's happened time and again with managers, while new systems and philosophies haven't always had the backing to prosper, either. Now the club can't afford to turn its back on what Guus Hiddink has started with the emerging talent at Stamford Bridge.

There's a group of Chelsea youngsters who are beginning to flourish in the first team thanks to Hiddink's influence. Injuries and suspensions have helped, but the Blues' interim coach has shown arguably more appetite for blooding youngsters in his six months back at the club than any other manager in the Roman Abramovich era.

With little to play for by way of silverware, it's the one thing resembling a legacy that Hiddink can leave behind when he departs this summer. That said, it will have all been worth little if Antonio Conte doesn't pick up where Hiddink left off.

"It depends also on the development... first I must be convinced of their quality and I will then see what the situation is," Hiddink said at his first press conference back as Chelsea manager in December when asked by Bleacher Report if he'd be giving youth players a chance.

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"It's a little bit too early to say now that tomorrow I will bring in a youngster of 17, 18 or 19 years old. But in general, if they show they are competitive, then I am not against giving them opportunities."

Hiddink has delivered on that message. When the opportunities have been there, we've seen Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Bertrand Traore, Matt Miazga, Kenedy and Baba Rahman play.

That quintet of players are all 21 or under, so the experience they're picking up now is vital to their development at the club.

What was telling from Hiddink in December was his suggestion that picking young players is difficult for any manager as it represents such a gamble. He spoke of needing to be "convinced of their quality," and by what we've seen, he's been gradually won over.

That's where Conte has a head start compared to when Hiddink first stepped into the fray this season. The new manager will have much more than training-ground reports to work with—he's able to assess these young players long before he even takes over the reins in July.

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The big shame is that with so many budding young stars on loan, Hiddink hasn't been in a position to test even more of them. There's an argument to suggest flooding the first team with too many youngsters would be detrimental, but looking at rotation, those starting places could have been passed around.

Dominic Solanke, Lewis Baker and Izzy Brown will be better off for the year they have spent in the Netherlands with Vitesse Arnhem. Giving them chances in a Chelsea shirt now would have been arguably more beneficial, however.

Conte will still watch the videos from Eredivisie games, yet seeing those young players performing in Chelsea colours remains the big challenge, regardless of what they achieve in the Netherlands this term.

The important thing is that from the wreckage of this season Chelsea are beginning to salvage small signs of positive life—the most potent being the encouragement Hiddink has given Chelsea's youngsters.

With the rebuilding project that will get under way this summer, now isn't the time for Chelsea to be forgetting that. Hiddink's work can't be viewed as merely the work of a man in the interim coach's role with interim players.

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Chelsea's youngsters have something to offer the club as they enter a new generation. John Terry will likely join Frank Lampard, Ashley Cole and Didier Drogba on the Chelsea scrapheap in a few weeks when his contract expires, so the focus must be about how that spine is replaced.

It's not about talent alone. Chelsea need to instill a culture that keeps their dressing room strong for the next decade, and to do that, they need players who understand the club's ethos.

That's the sort of thing that can't be bought, as Chelsea have found in more recent times. It's ingrained in players who have been around long enough to understand it and respect it.

Hiddink has got a movement stirring in west London, and now's not the time to be forgetting about it. Conte's job is about getting the club back to the top, and he can't reject what's coming through as he plans for that.

Conte must finish what Hiddink's started for these past few months to be worth anything.

Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes