Chelsea’s new owner Todd Boehly has lauded the Chelsea Academy, claiming it is one of the best in the world. The Blues’ academy in Cobham, Surrey, England is famous for its outstanding reputation for producing top talents.
While Todd Boehly mentioned Chelsea’s first team regulars who graduated from the Blues’ academy like Reece James, Mason Mount, Trevoh Chalobah, and Tammy Abraham, the 48-year-old mistakenly name-dropped two football stars who did not graduate through the youth set-up.
The American businessman Todd Boehly erroneously claimed that Liverpool star Mohamed Salah and Manchester City superstar Kevin De Bruyne were Chelsea academy graduates.
Boehly, in an interview with SALT on Tuesday, September 13, said: “We have one of the best academies in the world.
“If you look at what our academy has developed, our academy is Mo Salah, Kevin De Bruyne. More recently Tammy Abraham, Reece James, Mason Mount, Trevoh Chalobah.
“We have 10 or 11 players right now that are either on loan and controlled by us, we have the right to buy them back, or they’re playing for our team or academy.”
Also read: Chelsea Academy has produced some of the best players in the world, here they are
Certainly, Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne did play for Chelsea as youngsters but they are not products of the Blues academy.
Mohammed Salah joined Chelsea at the age of 22 on the 23rd of January 2014, from the Swiss club FC Basel for a transfer fee of £11 million. The Egyptian football star did not stay long due to the awful play time he had with Chelsea before he was moved to the Italian club Fiorentina on an 18-month loan on the 2nd of February, 2015.
Likewise, Kevin De Bruyne joined Chelsea from Genk when he was 20, for a transfer fee rumoured to be in the region of £7 million on January 31, 2012.
The Manchester City star did not enjoy his days with Chelsea as he was once peddled as a loan player to Werder Bremen on the 31st of July, 2012 before Chelsea eventually sold him to Wolfsburg for £18 million on 18 January, 2014.
Meanwhile, Todd Boehly’s ignorance has been mocked by football fans all over the world after claiming that Chelsea’s academy produced Premier League stars like Mohamed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne.
Fans who showed concern have pointed out that Both players were international footballers for Egypt and Belgium respectively before Chelsea signed them.
One of the fans wrote on his Twitter page: ‘How are Salah and De Bruyne at Chelsea’s Academy? They were 22 and 21 when joining Chelsea. That’s ridiculous.’
Another condemned Boehly’s blunder and tweeted: ‘In case it was necessary to point out how funny this statement is, Salah and De Bruyne had both played 120+ games of first-team professional football before Chelsea bought them. Academy graduates?’
While a Chelsea fan said: ‘Who’s gonna tell him that we didn’t develop Mo or KdB?’
One of the fans said the 48-year-old Boehly is completely ignorant of Chelsea’s environment as he tweeted: Todd Boehly said that Chelsea has Salah and De Bruyne from the academy. Salah was bought from Basel and De Bruyne was bought from Genk If you want to own a football club, you should have at least a little football knowledge.’
One hilariously said: “Salah? De Bruyne? What is this man smoking? Lol he has no clue about this sport and this club. He’ll end up liquidating the club.”
Chelsea FC Football Academy
The Chelsea young team club have both under-18 and under-21 youngsters. The under-21 squad is the development team of Chelsea Football Club managed by Mark Robinson. While the under-18 consists of a squad of the Chelsea Football Club Academy managed by Ed Brand.
Chelsea FC Development Squad.
Chelsea FC Development Squad are the development team of Chelsea Football Club. The team plays in Premier League 2; the top level of reserve football in England.
Chelsea development squad were the champions in the 2013/14 and 2019/20 Premier League2 seasons.
The team largely consists of under-21 players but senior players sometimes have an appearance, for instance when they are recovering from injury.
Chelsea Football Club Academy Team
Chelsea F.C. Academy is the under-18 team of Chelsea Football Club.
The team plays in the Professional U18 Development League and they have won the FA Youth Cup nine times, including five consecutive titles between 2014 and 2018.
The Chelsea FC Academy has produced several successful players such as the brothers Ron and Allan Harris, Peter Bonetti, Bobby Tambling, Barry Bridges, Bert Murray, John Hollins, Peter Osgood, Ray Wilkins, Graeme Le Saux, Bobby Smith, Terry Venables, Jimmy Greaves, John Terry, Mason Mount, and Reece James.
In addition, Chelsea have obtained a reputation for being the only English football club so far to have reached the final of the UEFA Youth League, winning it twice in four final appearances.
