Chelsea Mulai Petik Hasil Dari Investasi Pemain Muda

Levi Colwill won the trust of captain Chelsea at the age of 20 (Instagram/@chelseafc).

JAKARTA - Chelsea still have a chance to win two trophies this season. Their performances in the 2023/2024 FA Cup and the Carabao Cup or EFL 2023/2024 are still continuing.

Blue will play the Carabao Cup semi-final against Middlesbrough on January 9, 2024 for the first leg. Then, they stepped into the fourth round after beating Preston North End in the FA Cup on January 6, 2024.

Travel in domestic tournaments is inversely proportional to local competitions. Chelsea is still stuck on the 10th floor of the 2023/2024 Premier League standings.

The work is quite disappointing for supporters. You see, Mauricio Pochettino, who was just brought in at the start of this season, is targeted to compete in the top flight of the league.

The Argentine manager is also known for his 'alergy' with domestic tournaments and is more concerned with the league. However, now the reality is different.

In fact, the slick journey in local tournaments has made Chelsea fans a little treated considering the appearance in the competition is so painful. Stamford Bridge public is at least relieved that there is a chance Blue will get a trophy this season even though she doesn't participate in European tournaments.

However, Chelsea's campaign this season could not actually be judged only by domestic tournaments or competitions. There is one achievement that seems to be an alpa from the public's attention.

Pochettino is actually preparing a long-term project for Chelsea. An approach to young players is put forward.

Just look at the last match in the FA Cup when you beat Preston North End 4-0. There were seven players under 23 who were started, except for goalkeeper Dorde Petrovic (24), defender Axel Disasi (25), midfielder Mykhailo Mudryk (23), and striker Raheem Sterling (29).

The substitution of players did not eliminate this approach. Only Thiago Silva (39) was very senior. Conor Galagher, who entered in the second half, was still 23 years old.

The rest, such as Chukwononso Madueke, Seivid Washington, and Michael Golding are still under 23 years old. In fact, Golding and Washington are still 17 and 18 years old.

This situation is certainly in line with the wishes of Chelsea bosses. As is well known, Blue's new ownership offers new ideas and a fresh approach that other clubs don't seem very interested.

Since Todd Boehly's Clearlake Capital consortium bought Chelsea in 2022, they have invested more than 1 billion pounds or IDR 19.7 trillion for young talent.

Chelsea is being rebuilt, unlike the team in previous times when many star players moved closer to Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea emerged as a team with a version that could not even be recognized by the public themselves. No star has been hailed by fans like Roman Abramovich's tenure.

The public even wondered why players like Conor Gallagher could not be released. They also don't know when the club recruited 19-year-old Lesley Ugochukwu from Stade Rennais.

However, now Pochettino can see the results little by little. In the match against Preston, he gave Chelsea academy player! Gilchrist, his first starter.

The captain's armband is also charged to Levi Colwill, a Chelsea academy dropout who is still 20 years old.

Gilchrist performed outstanding 61 minutes on the pitch. Colwill has a rare talent in the style of England's national team legend, Rio Ferdinand.

Another Chelsea academy graduate player, Armando Broja, instead became the team's opener in the 58th minute.

The young blood appeared full of determinacy so that he received appreciation from supporters at Stamford Bridge. Pochettino just has to polish so that they can emerge as new club stars.

"I think he (Broja) needs to use this type of game, when he scores goals and scores goals to improve his abilities. Not only improves his fitness or work ethic, but also his body language."

"He needs to smile more, a little more positively. I think it's a way he needs to develop and he's going to increase his game."

"His potential is extraordinary. We are talking about one of the young strikers in England or Europe. In my opinion, he has the greatest potential. We will try to encourage him to realize that it was never enough and worked very hard," Pochettino said at The Sun.

Pochettino predicts Broja will be one of the investments that shine brightly in the future. Indeed, the Albaniaan player had hampered his development due to serious knee injuries after he showed a glimpse of his talent during a loan at Vitesse and Southampton.

However, now he is motivated to prove his worth at Chelsea after recovering. Moreover, he was motivated to make the club stop signing Brentford's sweeper, Ivan Toney.

"By the way, I think he's suffered a big problem in the past. He's almost a year old (because of injury) and of course now he needs time."

"It's not easy for him to appear or be at the level we expected, but our expectations are huge. I think we really believe in him and for sure we will encourage him to try to develop every day," said Pochettino.

Meanwhile, Mauricio Pochettion's perspective appears to have changed when he handled Chelsea since the start of the season.

Earlier at Tottenham Hotspur, he always complained that the victory in the League Cup (Carabao) or the FA Cup only builds an ego.

Pochettino just believes that the most important thing is to consistently be in the top four of the league standings and play in the Champions League.

Now, the Argentine manager believes better in future potential. In addition to the young player project, he sees that giving titles from domestic tournaments is also important.