How Has Cobham Produced Such High End Talent

Chelsea football club underwent a serious revamp in the 2000s, Roman Abramovich invested heavily into the team. This applied to both on-field signings and off-the-pitch improvements to the academy setup, which saw them attempt to overhaul the academy from the youngest recruitment level to the higher ages. This has paid dividends over the years with graduates of Cobham producing hundreds of millions in transfer fees over the years.

How Chelsea’s Cobham Academy Has Produced High End Talent

Early Recruitment

One of the big benefits of the Blues are they start recruiting from an early age. They run camps from as young as U-9 to get talented youngsters into their system. Some, like the Ertheo Agency run both summer camps and high performance camps allowing teams to get their eyes on young footballers of all ages and talent levels.

This early recruitment has seen them get players involved early with names like Trevoh Chalobah who the youth staff were able to mould over the years into being a strong first-team defender. There are a number of other major players who would have been through Cobham at these younger levels before making the jump to other major teams.

Correct Profiles

One thing that the Blues’ academy has done really well over the years is prioritising those with the correct physical attributes to succeed at the highest level. Josh Acheampong, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Tammy Abraham, and even Landon Emenalo are on the tall side with enough agility to cover ground in a number of positions.

By focusing on these kinds of profiles, they produce players who can play at the highest level by using their time in academy to develop their technical skills. Physicality is a big thing in Europe’s top five leagues, prioritising players with height, speed, and strength, this gives Chelsea graduates a leg up when they make the move to senior football.

A Long List of Pedigree

With hundreds of millions in transfer fees and dozens of careers launched, there is proof that the Blues can be beneficial to the careers of young players. Spending time in the academy at any level can benefit your footballing future as it has with Abraham, Callum Hudson-Odoi, Tino Livramento, and Lewis Hall, among others.

Other superstars like Declan Rice, Xavi Simons, Jamal Musiala, Nathan Ake, Mason Mount, Dom Solanke. Marc Guehi, and Michael Olise have been through the doors of the esteemed training ground.