For most professional football players, Christmas is just another day in the office.

Well, for some ‘normal’ people it is as well. But for football players it is a time of heavy fixture congestion, training regularly, and playing a massive game on Boxing Day, so there is very little family time and rest to be had for them.

However, this is the path they chose and being able to represent a Premier League football club is every football-loving boys dream, and that dream came true for five Chelsea academy lads this week as they got called up to be in the senior squad for our League Cup clash against Brentford.

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Petr Cech called them all up after they had been sent home early for their Xmas break to be with families. But it was needs must with our senior squad being massively depleted, and Cech says the lads were more than happy to step in.

“It is never easy when you just get called up for a couple of days and you start and there is responsibility on you as well,” Cech wrote on his latest column on the Chelsea website.

“Their Academy games were cancelled for Covid, so they didn’t train much. They were on leave having a break and then got called up, so they needed to get back in quickly and prepare, but they were really happy I can tell you. For them it was definitely a special moment they enjoyed and they did really well. Making your debut is a very good reason for cancelling your Christmas break and I don’t think the guys complained!”

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