A lot was made of how young Chelsea’s squad was last term, with many critics feeling that its youthfulness and inexperience contributed to the club’s disappointing Premier League campaign.
Chelsea finished outside the top five and failed to qualify for any form of European football.
Xabi Alonso’s main objective next season will be getting the Blues back into the Champions League. However, he may need some experienced signings to help him achieve that.
Xabi Alonso has his SEVEN Chelsea ‘untouchables’ 👀
Do you agree with them?
- Reece James
- Cole Palmer
- Joao Pedro
- Estevao Willian
- Moises Caicedo
- Josh Acheampong
- Levi Colwill
Chelsea fourth for most minutes handed to U21 players during 2025/26 season
According to Transfermarkt, Chelsea handed 13,026 minutes to players under the age of 21 in the previous campaign.
That puts them in fourth place, with only Nice, European champions Paris Saint-Germain and sister club Strasbourg handing out more minutes.
Estevao Willian was one youngster who was afforded plenty of opportunities last season. In total, the 19-year-old made 36 appearances across all competitions before picking up a serious hamstring injury.
Estevao could not sleep one night after learning of the severity of his hamstring injury, which has ruled him out of the World Cup.
Although Estevao is still very young, he made a big impact at Chelsea last season, scoring a couple of big goals against Barcelona and Liverpool.
Chelsea now need to balance youth with experience
The reality is, regardless of how much ability and potential someone like Estevao has, Chelsea still need players who have been there and done it. There are not enough of those in their squad.
That lack of experience is definitely why they lost so many points from winning positions and received a lot of red cards.
This is a very young and immature team that needs some guidance on the pitch. Whoever Chelsea bring in this summer, they need to be able to provide that. It could be another long season if no one is capable of doing that.
It is why Chelsea should be keeping hold of the likes of Enzo Fernandez and Marc Cucurella, but that is a story for another day.
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