Ranking the Top 10 Teenagers to Have Played for Chelsea Since 2000
With the first team struggling, the focus on Chelsea these days seems to be more about their youth team.
Chelsea under-19s retained their UEFA Youth League crown on April 18 after they defeated Paris Saint-Germain in the final, while the under-18s will face Manchester City in the FA Youth Cup final.
If Chelsea defeat City over two legs, they'll become the first club since Manchester United's youngsters of the 1950s to win the competition for three successive seasons.
Indeed, it's an exiting time to be a Chelsea youngster.
While time will tell just how far this current crop of players will go in their careers, Bleacher Report has taken a look at other teenagers who have impressed at Stamford Bridge since 2000. There have been some illustrious names who have donned the blue jersey in that time, too.
We've incorporated a few house rules to compile our top 10, which include:
- Potential has been taken into account, although any players currently in the youth team aren't included.
- As we're looking at teenagers who have played for the club since 2000, it doesn't mean said player must have made his debut after that date. The fact they were playing for Chelsea at the time means they qualify.
As ever, lists of this nature are subjective, so let us know who would make your top 10 in the comments below.
10. Franco Di Santo
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Argentinian Franco Di Santo was signed from Chilean club Audax Italiano in January 2008, aged 18. He arrived at the same time as Branislav Ivanovic, although he was more under the radar than the Serb.
Di Santo was somewhat of an unknown quantity. He wasn't among some of the bigger names coming out of South America at the time, although his early performances for Chelsea's reserves got fans interested. He scored on his debut against Fulham reserves and later followed that up with a hat-trick against Tottenham Hotspur reserves.
The goals continued to flow, which eventually led to Di Santo being given his full Chelsea debut at the start of 2008/09. By that time he had turned 19, but with the likes of Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba ahead of him in the pecking order, Di Santo struggled for more first-team appearances.
He joined Blackburn Rovers on loan before eventually moving to Wigan Athletic in 2010.
Di Santo scrapes into our list more for what he's achieved away from Stamford Bridge, as he's gone on to carve out a respectable career, currently plying his trade at Schalke after spending two seasons with Werder Bremen.
He showed plenty of potential during his time west London, but Di Santo's lack of first-team football didn't help his development from goal machine with the reserves into bona fide stardom.
9. Samuele Dalla Bona
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Voted Chelsea's Young Player of the Year in 1999, Samuele Dalla Bona's promotion from youth team duties to the first team was highly anticipated by fans.
They'd seen plenty of what he could do in the junior ranks, so the hope was he would develop into a big star at Stamford Bridge.
Dalla Bona hinted he would do that, making his debut against Feyenoord in the UEFA Champions League when he was still only 18 years old.
The Italian really established himself the following season, though, making 32 appearances in 2000/01. He followed that up with 38 the following campaign when it looked like the future of Chelsea's midfield would be built around him and Frank Lampard.
Dalla Bona was enticed by the bright lights too soon, though, departing Chelsea for AC Milan in 2002, where he had to compete with some major names in Italian football, including Andrea Pirlo. From there, his career regressed, and the potential we saw at Stamford Bridge wasn't built on in the way it should have been.
8. Mikael Forssell
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Before the likes of Dominic Solanke and Tammy Abraham were smashing in goals for fun at junior level, it was Mikael Forssell who had Chelsea supporters licking their lips at the prospect of the club unearthing a gem up front.
The Finnish striker was just 17 when Chelsea signed him from HJK Helsinki and came with a real reputation for finding the back of the net. A striker himself, then manager Gianluca Vialli couldn't resist playing the youngster and gave him his debut on January 31, 1999 against Arsenal.
Forssell wouldn't reach his 18th birthday until two months later, outlining the confidence Vialli had in him.
A few days after his debut, Forssell scored twice in the FA Cup against Oxford United to seal a 4-2 victory.
He looked a real talent and impressed in a number of loan spells with the likes of Crystal Palace and Birmingham City. By the time he fully matured, Roman Abramovich had taken over at Chelsea, and the club's big-spending days had started in earnest. That meant little room for players like Forssell to be given a chance to impress.
Still, those early days of watching a 17-year-old offer so much promise are remembered fondly.
7. Robert Huth
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New fans to the Premier League will associate with Robert Huth as a Stoke City and Leicester City centre-back. Before he became established in English football, though, Huth was cutting his teeth at Stamford Bridge.
He looked a fine prospect, too. Originally signed by Claudio Ranieri, we didn't expect the German to get much of a look in under Jose Mourinho. Chelsea were on a mission under the Special One, and it meant there was little room for experimentation.
Huth had made his debut as a 17-year-old for Chelsea, coming on as a half-time substitute against Aston Villa on the final day of the 2001/02 season.
Still in his teens, Huth made 20 appearances in 2003/04 and was infamously used as a right-winger by Claudio Ranieri against Monaco in the Champions League semi-final in which Chelsea imploded.
Huth was never in the same category as players such as John Terry, but he did enough to impress at Chelsea before leaving for Middlesbrough in 2006.
6. Carlton Cole
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Another teenager to excel under Claudio Ranieri was Carlton Cole. Unlike Robert Huth, however, Cole was a product of Chelsea's youth system.
Ranieri nicknamed Cole the "Young Lion" after his exploits in front of goal saw him score seven goals in the 2002/03 season. He was still only 18 when that season started, scoring a late goal on the opening day to help Chelsea come back from 2-0 against Charlton Athletic to win the game 3-2.
Later that season, Cole scored in back-to-back games against Sunderland and Bolton Wanderers to earn Chelsea a precious six points as they attempted to climb the table.
He always looked a threat, but like so many others, Cole's progress was stunted when Chelsea's focus in the transfer market shifted. The money injected by Roman Abramovich from 2003 onwards meant Chelsea could attract world-class frontmen, and Cole eventually left the club for West Ham United in 2006.
5. Josh McEachran
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Of the current generation of academy graduates, Josh McEachran is the one who got away in the eyes of Chelsea fans.
He came through the youth ranks with a burgeoning reputation, and he seemed to be ready to deliver when he was given his debut by Carlo Ancelotti in September 2010 against Zilina in the Champions League aged 17 years old.
McEachran was the sought of cultured, fancy midfielder Chelsea are splashing out millions to sign in the current market. In the few appearances he made, he seemed to dictate the tempo of matches at times, looking free of nerves.
The club didn't manage his progress well at all, though. With managerial changes and an unstable dressing room, he endured five loan spells that did nothing for his confidence or position at Stamford Bridge.
His story has proved one of wasted talent, as he had everything to become a star at Chelsea.
4. Kurt Zouma
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Kurt Zouma is barely out of his teens, but you wouldn't know it. The French defender looks every inch of the world-class talent Chelsea hoped he would become when they signed him from Saint-Etienne in January 2014.
Zouma spent the remainder of 2013/14 back on loan with Saint-Etienne, making his Chelsea debut in the Capital One Cup against Bolton Wanderers in September 2014, aged 19. He scored that night, too, giving Chelsea a 1-0 lead in the game.
Since then, we've witnessed the growth of him as a footballer. From a player with potential, he's now looking the real deal, and there's no doubt Chelsea will build their defence around him in years to come.
Zouma has everything the modern defender needs to be a success. He has pace in abundance and is able in possession. Not only that, his physique means he is able to bully strikers, and it's a rare sight to see a frontman get the better of him.
He still has much more to achieve, but ranking him so highly here just outlines what a talented player Zouma is.
3. Daniel Sturridge
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Even before Daniel Sturridge was the other half of Liverpool's deadly strike partnership with Luis Suarez, Chelsea fans knew what a talent he was.
Sturridge had joined Chelsea in 2009, a year after his starring performance in the FA Youth Cup final had denied Chelsea success in that competition.
He scrapes into this list on age, but there's never been a doubt about his talent. Sturridge was 19 when he made his Chelsea debut against Sunderland in August 2009, with his 20th birthday a fortnight away. He was barely a teenager, but a player with big potential nonetheless.
His five goals that year hinted at what he was capable of, as did a loan spell with Bolton Wanderers in 2011 when Sturridge scored eight goals in 12 Premier League matches.
When Andre Villas-Boas took over that summer, Sturridge got more game time at Chelsea and scored 10 goals before Christmas to be the club's leading goalscorer. Given how Chelsea were struggling at the time—and the fact Sturridge was mainly playing out wide—it was an impressive feat.
Allowing Sturridge to leave for Liverpool in January 2013 seemed like a bad move at that time. Hindsight only confirms it.
2. Romelu Lukaku
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Another striker Chelsea allowed to leave too early is Romelu Lukaku, although his inclusion in this list is under different circumstances to Daniel Sturridge.
Unlike Sturridge, Lukaku didn't do much in a Chelsea shirt. The Mirror's Darren Lewis said the player has "unfinished business" with the club, and its not hard to see why, as the Belgian never scored a competitive goal for the Blues.
The fact he made just 10 Premier League appearances for them is a large reason that's the case. Seeing what he did while on loan at West Bromwich Albion and Everton, however, it's strange Chelsea never gave him a full season to prove himself.
Lukaku's form since joining Everton permanently in 2014 has been exceptional. He's scored 45 goals in that time to become one of the Premier League's most lethal predators.
He made his debut for Chelsea aged 18 against Norwich City in 2011. Five years on—and with rumours Chelsea are looking at trying to re-sign Lukaku for £60 million this summer, per the Daily Mail's Kieran Gill—it could prove a costly mistake letting him go.
1. John Terry
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Believe it or not, John Terry was a teenager. Once.
He made his debut in 1998, and as we entered the new millennium, he was still only 19 years old. Now 35, he's still going strong at Stamford Bridge.
The truth is, Terry would come out on top of any list for teenagers to have played for the club throughout Chelsea's history. He's the Blues' finest ever youth-team product and is arguably their greatest player.
No defender has scored more goals for Chelsea; no captain or player has won more honours with the club, either.
When we look at what the club has represented in the past decade, Terry is the player we think of. He's achieved everything as a Chelsea player, and the fact he has done it as one who's been there since he was 14 years old makes it all the more remarkable.
Chelsea fans have labelled him their "captain, leader, legend" for good reason.
Garry Hayes is Bleacher Report's lead Chelsea correspondent. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter @garryhayes.
