The 10 academy stars Chelsea REGRET selling
Cameron Smith
- Updated: 22 Aug 2023 14:54 BST
- 8 min read
Chelsea have one of the best academies in Europe, let alone England, and graduates of the Cobham academy can be seen dotted around the continent’s biggest and best teams.
While transfer mistakes such as selling Mohamed Salah and Kevin de Bruyne have hurt Chelsea in recent years, arguably a more damaging blow has been seeing their young academy stars leave the club and go onto become outstanding footballers.
The Blues have been blessed with back-to-back rich owners, in the form of Roman Abramovich and now Todd Boehly. As a result, the west London club have often disregarded their homegrown talent in favour of big-money signings.
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That policy has continued this summer, with Lewis Hall shipped off to Newcastle on loan with that deal set to become permanent in 2024.
Academy players may not always be the stars of the team, but Chelsea fans will be quick to point out that their famed Cobham set-up should have been utilised far better in the past few years.
The Blues have spent big money on bulking up their first-team squad to ensure there isn’t a depth issue, but that money could have been saved for a big-name star like Victor Osimhen if they had simply used their academy to fill up their senior squad, saving vital funds in the process.
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However, that hasn’t happened and Chelsea have been left to rue some major departures that have seen their academy stars prosper away from Stamford Bridge.
FootballTransfers lists 10 academy players that Chelsea will regret selling.
Lewis Hall (Newcastle)
It makes sense to start with 18-year-old Hall, who has recently completed his season-long loan deal to Newcastle United.
A loan move to Crystal Palace was all but done earlier this summer, but Chelsea stalled, forced Hall to sign a new six-year deal and promptly offloaded him to St James’ Park.
Newcastle will sign the versatile star permanently next summer if certain conditions are met.
Hall was arguably the shining light in a dismal Chelsea team last season, with his energetic input from left-back providing huge value to a side lacking creativity or heart.
Tino Livramento (Newcastle)
Sticking with Newcastle and fellow summer arrival Valentino Livramento. Chelsea’s 2021 Academy Player of the Year shone at right wing-back during his time at Cobham, but ultimately saw his first-team path blocked by fellow academy boy Reece James.
Southampton saw an opportunity to sign the youngster in 2021 and lodged a bid of around €6 million, which was soon accepted by Chelsea.
He excelled in his debut Premier League campaign and although he missed the entirety of the following season through an ACL injury, Newcastle decided he was worth Xm and sealed a deal in early August 2023.
Chelsea spent €30m on Lyon wonderkid Malo Gusto in January as a back-up to injury-prone James, but that fee could’ve been avoided entirely if they’d convinced Livramento to stay.
Fikayo Tomori (Milan)
Fikayo Tomori was the first high-profile name to leave the Chelsea set-up and move elsewhere when he joined AC Milan in early 2021.
The Englishman had been a key figure in Frank Lampard’s first season in charge, but soon saw his place taken by Thiago Silva and was unable to work his way back into the starting XI.
Tomori has since proven himself to be an excellent centre-back in Serie A, emerging as one of the division’s very best in his position.
Since his exit Chelsea have spent over €200m on new centre-backs, at least some of which would’ve been avoided had they kept faith with Tomori.
Marc Guehi (Crystal Palace)
In a very similar vein to Tomori, Marc Guehi left Chelsea in 2021 and has excelled since waving goodbye to his boyhood club.
Guehi has become Crystal Palace captain and has solidified himself as one of the most underrated Premier League defenders. Furthermore, he has gained England recognition since moving to Selhurst Park and looks a good bet for an inclusion in Gareth Southgate’s Euro 2024 squad.
Guehi is brilliant on the ball and his leadership qualities are top notch too - both qualities that would help this current Chelsea side.
Tomori and Guehi would’ve saved Chelsea a lot of money and transfer trouble if they had remained at the club.
Andreas Christensen (Barcelona)
Andreas Christensen joined Chelsea’s U18 from Brondby in 2012 and won the 2014 FA Youth Cup with the Blues alongside Ruben Loftus-Cheek.
The Danish international was a key figure of the 2020-21 Champions League winning side, with his performances in the middle of Thomas Tuchel’s back three exemplary.
He could be dominated by centre-forwards and was prone to staying down injured, but on the whole Christensen was a great squad member for the Blues.
His form since joining Barcelona has also been great, with the Dane striking up a brilliant partnership with Ronald Araujo.
As mentioned with Tomori and Guehi, Chelsea could have saved a lot of money - which could’ve been spent on signing Osimhen for example - by convincing their academy centre-backs to stick around.
Nathan Ake (Man City)
Nathan Ake was one of the unsung heroes of Manchester City’s treble-winning 2022-23 campaign and is one of Pep Guardiola’s most trusted players.
The Dutchman spent six years at Chelsea after joining from Feyenoord aged 16, but that time included three loan spells, to Reading, Watford and Bournemouth respectively.
A centre-back roster of Nathan Ake, Andreas Christensen, Levi Colwill, Marc Guehi, Fikayo Tomori and Trevoh Chalobah may not sound as luxurious as Chelsea’s current crop of defenders, but they’d all have been signed for free and perhaps wouldn’t be as injury-prone as the Blues’ options at present.
Declan Rice (Arsenal)
Declan Rice left the Chelsea academy aged 14 so whilst the club did not actually sell him, they did let him go for free in his teenage years, a decision that has looked worse and worse with each passing year.
The midfielder is now a guaranteed starter for England and joined Chelsea’s London rivals Arsenal for over €115m in the 2023 summer transfer window.
Considering the Blues have spent an initial €299m on Enzo Fernandez, Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia since the start of 2023, letting Rice leave for free is a decision that will sting Blues fans and staff alike, despite the fact it was impossible to predict his career trajectory at the time.
Michael Olise (Crystal Palace)
Chelsea spent weeks trying to sign Michael Olise from Crystal Palace only for the Eagles to threaten legal action and tie the Frenchman down to a new long-term deal.
That heartbreak could’ve been avoided if Chelsea had kept hold of Olise in 2016. The London-born winger had spent seven years in the Blues academy before they decided he wasn’t good enough to keep at Cobham.
A short stint at Man City followed before he joined Reading in 2017. Olise then rose to prominence with the Championship team and he earned a move to the Premier League in 2021.
Olise provided 11 league assists in 2022-23 - the fourth-highest tally of any player in the English top flight.
Tammy Abraham (Roma)
Tammy Abraham struggled during the 2022-23 campaign, but he has been a brilliant signing for Roma since joining the Italian giants in 2021.
In his debut campaign in Rome, Abraham broke the record for the most Serie A goals scored by an Englishman in a single season and he also became the first Roma player in history to score 22 goals in their first year at the club.
He was Chelsea’s top goal-scorer in Lampard’s first year in charge and despite featuring for only 1,003 league minutes the following season, with Tuchel favouring other options, Abraham still netted the same number of Premier League goals as Timo Werner - six.
Eddie Nketiah (Arsenal)
The final player on this list is Eddie Nketiah, who featured in the same Chelsea youth side as the aforementioned Rice.
The pair are now both plying their trade for Arsenal after Nketiah was cast aside by the Blues in 2015 after seven years in the club’s academy.
Nketiah may not have been used as Arsenal’s starting striker consistently, but his ability cannot be questioned. Chelsea’s issues in front of goal may not have occurred had Nketiah remained at Stamford Bridge.
