Badiashile ahead of Humphreys? Chelsea should be worried about academy stars

Robin Bairner

• 12 Jan 2024 09:21 GMT
• 3 min read

Chelsea are right to be concerned about academy stars being edged out in favour of expensive new signings, data from analytics experts SciSports shows.

A report in the Independent claims that there are concerns from those inside that club that the “experiment” that BlueCo and Todd Bohely are undertaking is pushing the club in the wrong direction.

The dissenting voices come particularly from the academy, which is recent years has been a valuable source of players for the Chelsea first team.

Now there is a sense that it is simply there to balance the books for some easy Financial Fair Play (FFP) wins.

“There’s even a sense from academy level that the ceiling of some of the signings isn’t as high as Chelsea’s many graduates. One view, for example, is that Bashir Humphries should be ahead of Benoit Badiashile but the latter cost over £32m,” the report goes on to say.

The Blues have been here before with younger players. Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah and Romelu Lukaku are just some of the promising upstarts the Blues have had on their books, sold and watched develop into world-class players.

None came through the Chelsea academy, of course, but they were signed as future stars, which they only became after playing regular football.

Academy worries well founded

According to analytics experts SciSports, there is an element of truth in the belief that they could be sliding into another such period.

The data shows that Humphreys has the potential to surpass Badiashile in his career, though this will not happen for two-to-three years and the likeliest scenario is that the former Monaco man remains a player a level above the academy product.

It is also worth bearing in mind that Badiashile is coming off the back of a serious injury, while there are often doubts expressed about the quality of big-money signings, with the likes of Antonio Rudiger even doubted when he first moved to Stamford Bridge.

Greater doubts should be voiced over Axel Disasi, who at 25 is already close to his peak years. The SciSports data shows that the probability is that Humphreys is capable of reaching a very similar level to the World Cup runner up. In fact, he will probably be a better player.

The 20-year-old, who is on loan at Swansea, does not possess the current ability of Disasi, though. The France international played for years at the likes of Strasbourg and Monaco to hone his skills, and even if he does not prove a long-term solution for the Stamford Bridge side, is more first-team ready than the youngster.

The concern now has to be whether Humphreys can get this level or whether Chelsea face slipping into another era of selling on young players who flourish elsewhere because their first-team opportunities at the Bridge are blocked.