8 league titles across three different countries. 2
Champions Leagues and a Uefa Cup. Treble seasons in Portugal and Italy. It’s a
decent CV for Jose Mourinho to say the least. It seems strange to suggest that
somebody who has been so ruthlessly successful in his career still has
something to learn. However it appears Mourinho has put a stop to his European travels
and is in it for the long haul at Chelsea. In this time of Financial Fair Play,
and a clamour for more home grown players in England, Jose faces a managerial
challenge he hasn’t had as yet in his career – bringing young players through
the academy.
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| Much expected from youngsters Brown (left), Solanke (middle) and Baker (right) |
Speaking earlier in the season, Mourinho claimed that ‘If,
in a few years, (Lewis) Baker, (Izzy) Brown and (Dominic) Solanke are not
national team players, I should blame myself.’ Even for a man who was able to
predict the exact day that Chelsea would win the Premier League title, that’s a
pretty big statement, and one that he’s now going to have to make good on. This
is a team that has John Terry as the sole academy product in the last 15 years,
so history isn’t on Jose’s side. Bringing through a youth product is almost
against his DNA as a manager. In the past, he’s always had the backing to buy
ready-made stars who bring almost instant success. Just look at this past season
with Chelsea: £62m worth of Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas went some way to
delivering Chelsea the title. It was a similar story with the Galacticos at
Real Madrid and the Inter Milan treble winners in 2010. Owners and presidents
expected instant silverware, so there wasn’t much room to develop youth that
could take 3 or 4 years to adapt to the demands of first team football at the
highest level.
During my Football Manager heyday, I always looked forward
to the new intake of youth players in the academy. Most of the time there was
the anti-climax of receiving a player who was just ‘one of the better players
of the year’s intake’. However, there was always a chance you could be
presented with a player described as ‘potentially one of the greatest of his
generation’ - The Steven Gerrard, the Paul Scholes, 95% of all Brazilian
players under the age of 20. Finding the player was one thing, but nurturing
him to wonderkid status was another beast entirely. God forbid the player ended
up like Freddy Adu.
Mourinho’s task is made easier by the impressive shape the
Chelsea academy is currently in. As well as the young England trio, add into
the mix Ruben Loftus-Cheek who was recently called up for England u21s, and
Patrick Bamford who was named Championship Player of the Season whilst on loan
at Middlesbrough. The under 18s side were crowned Uefa Youth League champions
and FA Youth Cup winners this season – their 4th triumph in 6 years.
If ever there was a time for Chelsea to restart the production line that was
seemingly abandoned after the John Terry model, you’d think it would be now.
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| The much heralded Class of 92 |
Other managers have shown how
it’s done. Alex Ferguson’s Class of 92 are usually the example cited, as the
likes of Giggs, Scholes, Beckham, Butt and the Neville Brothers formed the
nucleus of Man United’s successful team for much of the 90’s and early
noughties. Louis Van Gaal handed debuts to Victor Valdes, Carles Puyol, and Xavi
whilst he was at Barcelona, and more recently Thomas Muller and Toni Kroos at
Bayern. All have gone on to achieve phenomenal success at domestic and
international levels. Harry Redknapp also oversaw the introduction of Rio
Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Jermain Defoe and Michael Carrick into first team
football.
Listening to Gary Neville and co
in the Class of 92 documentary shows just how much work a manager may have to
put in to accommodate academy graduates. They speak of the trust shown in them
by Ferguson; firstly through transfer activity as fan favourites Paul Ince,
Mark Hughes, and Andrei Kanchelskis were sold and replaced with Scholes,
Beckham and Nicky Butt. Secondly Fergie refused to lose faith in the youngsters
after a 3-1 opening day defeat in the 95-96 season to Aston Villa (the match
that led Alan Hansen to proclaim that you can’t win anything with kids). His
faith was well and truly repaid as United went on to win the double that
season. Does Jose have the stones to go to such lengths to accommodate youth
team players?
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| Generation gap |
Mourinho has taken the first steps with Ruben Loftus-Cheek,
as the starts handed to the youngster against Liverpool and West Brom suggest
that Mourinho was serious about making the 19 year old a full member of the
squad next season. However according to the Chelsea boss, the relationship
between the two has taken a step back following the Blues’ pre-season friendly
with Sydney FC due to the youngster not working hard enough. An excuse to
exclude him?
Sadly we live in an age of football where youngsters who
show glimpses of potential à la Raheem Sterling and Harry Kane can be valued at
the same price as Zinedine Zidane. This makes the development of home grown
players even more crucial. Mourinho looks set to put together a managerial
reign of real longevity at Chelsea. A mix of exciting young talent with
experienced superstars could spell trouble for the rest of the league – if Jose
gets it right.
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