- May 24, 2022
- Olaoluwa Nwobodo
Chelsea fans sometimes remember all the players the Blues have lost over the years and are filled with regret, the latest being AC Milan’s Fikayo Tomori. They regret not having these players as staples in the senior team. This regret is understandable but misplaced. It may be due to a misconception of what they think the Chelsea Academy was created for. Chelsea invests in their Academy to produce players of high quality. The dispute may now be the purpose of these high-quality players.
Playing in the senior team is always on the cards, but at the end of the day, you cannot make every high-quality Academy player a staple in the senior team. Chelsea has a senior team when the academy players are developing, they will still have a senior team when these academy players are ready to step up. What then happens? Sell. Yes, the Academy was created to produce top players for use in the senior team, but mainly for sale. Yes, it’s OK to sell Academy players. It’s difficult to make money from a player you spent a transfer fee on. A player would need to perform at such high levels to produce a profit despite a transfer fee. The more the transfer fee is, the lower the chances of that player eventually producing a profit.
It’s much easier to make a profit on players that are from the Academy. This is why Chelsea often opts to sell players from the academy that have garnered interest. Chelsea produces players to excel at the top level. If they eventually become senior players for the club, then fantastic. Lionel Messi came from Boca Juniors but would go on to become a Barcelona legend. John Terry came from West Ham United’s Academy but would go on to become a Chelsea legend. Toni Kroos came from Bayern Munich’s Academy but he would go on to win three Champions League titles with Real Madrid and become their legend. The point is that the benchmark for a successful youth product is not succeeding in the first team, it’s succeeding in his professional career.
Fikayo Tomori’s last appearance for Chelsea was a 45-minute appearance on Matchday 2 of the 2020/21 Premier League season. He had made 15 appearances in the previous league season. Tomori was in the Chelsea senior team, but he was not having a successful professional career because he was a fringe player. Tomori was sold in the winter transfer window of the 2020/21 season, much to the displeasure of many. He made 17 Serie A appearances that season, starting 16.
Before long, Tomori had displaced the club captain Alessio Romagnoli. Milan quickly realized that they didn’t want to lose Tomori and they chose the option to buy him. 18 months after Tomori arrived at AC Milan and he has now won the Serie A title making 31 appearances and contributing to 13 clean sheets, with no centerback having more.
Tomori is no longer at Chelsea, but he will always be remembered as a Chelsea product. AC Milan will always be thankful to Chelsea. It is unrealistic to expect every top player to become part of the Chelsea senior team. The most important thing, and what Chelsea fans should be happy to see is for these players to go on to have successful careers, whether at Chelsea or elsewhere.
Chelsea has produced players – not just from their academy – that have gone on to become key players for other solid teams. Tammy Abraham is now a key member for AS Roma, scoring 15 league goals for them and leading them to the UEFA Europa Conference League Final. Marc Guehi has become a key member of Crystal Palace and has already worn the armband for Patrick Vieira’s team. The same can be said for Valentino Livramento at Southampton. Nathan Ake is now playing for Manchester City. The purpose of investing in the Chelsea academy is to produce top players that would go on to have successful football careers, if they can do that at Chelsea, that’s just the icing on the cake.