Chelsea
sent as many as 35 players on loan last season and look set to send many of
their young stars out again ahead of the new campaign.
Their academy is one of the country's most successful - Chelsea retained
their UEFA Youth League title in April before winning a third consecutive FA
Youth Cup a week later - and the club boasts a deep pool of U21 talent.
With competition for a first-team place intense, however, many look
elsewhere for regular football.
Ahead of the upcoming season, 10 Chelsea youngsters have already departed on
loan to locations as varied as Brazil, Germany and the Netherlands. We take
a look at their prospects…
Nathan Ake - Bournemouth (season-long loan)
The Dutch-born defender was named Watford's Young Player of the Year after a
successful campaign at Vicarage Road last season, earning a place as Quique
Sanchez Flores' first-choice left-back.
Chelsea rate him highly and he is under contract until 2020, but
opportunities at Stamford Bridge remain limited and in March he summed up
his predicament.
"Of course I would like to return to play for Chelsea," he told the official
KNVB website. "But it is important for a player of my age to get regular
playing time."
Antonio Conte clearly agreed and a move to Eddie Howe's Bournemouth looks a
good fit.
Andreas Christensen - Borussia Monchengladbach (season-long loan)
Christensen was one of the big success stories last season, starring for
Borussia Monchengladbach in the same Champions League group as Manchester
City and Juventus and ending the season as the club's Player of the Year.
The defender is midway through his two-year loan stint but Monchengladbach
are keen to make his move permanent and had a £14.25m offer turned down by
Chelsea, on Tuesday. Despite the rejection, Christensen's loan will continue
with talks over a transfer shelved until the winter.
Christensen averaged fewer fouls-per-game than any other Bundesliga
centre-back and more interceptions-per-game than either Jerome Boateng and
Mats Hummels. No wonder his Denmark coach Age Hareide compared him to Franz
Beckenbauer.
Lewis Baker - Vitesse (season-long loan)
Lewis Baker is to spend a second season on loan with Dutch club Vitesse
Arnhem after impressing with five goals in 34 appearances last term. The
attacking midfielder is yet to make a senior start for the Blues but is
highly thought of and says he had offers from elsewhere before opting for
Vitesse.
"There was interest from several other clubs last summer but, together with
my family and Chelsea, I have discussed the options and we all believed that
another year was the best option," he said.
Baker also starred for England when they won the Toulon Tournament earlier
this summer.
Tomas Kalas - Fulham (season-long loan)
The future looked bright when Kalas stepped in for John Terry to make an
assured Premier League debut at Anfield in April 2014. But things have not
gone to plan since and the 23-year-old Czech Republic international has
joined Fulham for the upcoming campaign, his fifth different loan club since
signing for Chelsea six years ago.
Wallace - Gremio (18-month loan, expires June 2017)
The Brazil youth international has struggled for game time since joining
Chelsea in 2013, spending time on loan at Fluminense, Inter Milan, Carpi and
most recently Gremio. The attacking right-back is part-way through an
18-month deal with the Brazilian club that ends next summer, but has been
restricted to just nine appearances so far.
Jeremie Boga - Granada (season-long loan)
Boga was primarily an option from the bench for Ligue 1 side Rennes last
season, making 21 of his 27 league appearances as a substitute. The teenage
attacker still attracted plenty of interest in Spain, though, and has joined
Granada on a season-long loan.
Charly Musonda - Real Betis (season-long loan)
Musonda is another Chelsea youngster who will spend the year in Spain after
he had an initial six-month loan to Real Betis extended until the end of the
2016/17 campaign. He's happy at the club, where he scored once in 19
appearances from January onwards, saying recently: "Playing in a La Liga
team is very good and Betis is the perfect team."
Nathan - Vitesse (season-long loan)
Nathan was immediately loaned to Vitesse after signing for Chelsea last
July, but it took him a while to get acclimated and he only made four
Eredivisie starts in all. In February, Chelsea assistant first-team coach
Eddie Newton voiced concerns over playing time, but those fears seem to have
been allayed because Nathan will spend another season at the Dutch club.
Mitchell Beeney - Crawley (six-month loan)
Beeney's loan spell at Newport County last season came to an abrupt end
after four Sky Bet League Two starts, but he'll stay in the division with
Crawley Town until January 3. The goalkeeper, 20, faces stiff competition
for a spot in the Chelsea first-team, with Thibaut Courtois, Asmir Begovic,
Jamal Blackman and Matej Delac ahead of him in the pecking order.
Alex Kiwomya - Crewe Alexandra (six-month loan)
Kiwomya signed a new one-year deal with Chelsea on July 1, keeping him at
the club until June 2017, but he's yet to make a senior appearance for the
Blues. He's hoping it will be third time lucky at Crewe after disappointing
stints at Barnsley and Fleetwood Town, saying: "My previous loans were
really good experiences, but it was difficult situations at both clubs and
they didn't go as well as planned being only short term. Hopefully having a
longer period [at Crewe] to adjust and get used to the team should benefit
me." He will remain with the Sky Bet League Two club until January 9.
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