'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/2wBDAAYEBQYFBAYGBQYHBwYIChAKCgkJChQODwwQFxQYGBcUFhYaHSUfGhsjHBYWICwgIyYnKSopGR8tMC0oMCUoKSj/2wBDAQcHBwoIChMKChMoGhYaKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCj/wgARCAAHAAoDASIAAhEBAxEB/8QAFQABAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAb/2gAIAQEAAAAAkz//xAAUAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAE/9oACAECEAAAAA//xAAUAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAE/9oACAEDEAAAAB//xAAhEAACAQMDBQAAAAAAAAAAAAABAgQDBQYAEmIRFDIzsf/aAAgBAQABPwC24XjNw2pRg1I8ekEaR3IDOxO71sh4gnqF8tNglsDENjJJ43IgfNf/xAAZEQABBQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAAIDFCH/2gAIAQIBAT8AvSP0gL//xAAYEQACAwAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABAgADEf/aAAgBAwEBPwAXsowT/9k='%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
#3 Lucas Piazon
Lucas Piazon is another player from the Chelsea academy who was tipped to become a star in the future but has failed to live up to expectations.
After Chelsea signed the Brazilian in 2011, plenty of fans were overjoyed to see what the future could hold for Piazon. He was compared to the likes of Ronaldinho, Kaka and Pele and was touted to become the next big star from Brazil.
The Chelsea academy graduate won the club's Young Player of the Year award in 2011-12 but was unable to break into the first team, playing in two League Cup ties and one Premier League match for the Blues.
He was subsequently sent on loan to seven different clubs in the last decade or so, including spells at Eintracht Frankfurt, Reading and Fulham.
The Chelsea academy graduate was finally sold to Braga at the start of 2021, where he signed a four-year contract.
#2 Gael Kakuta
Very few players were as talented as Gael Kakuta when Chelsea signed him back in 2007. The Frenchman was touted as a big prospect and a future Ballon d'Or winner. Such was the hype around the player that Chelsea even took a hefty fine and a transfer ban in their pursuit of Kakuta. But things did not work out as expected for the youngster.
Kakuta impressed the Chelsea academy coaches with his pace, enthusiasm and array of tricks. He started training with the first team in 2008-09. But in February 2009, he suffered a devastating double ankle fracture in a friendly game with the reserve team and was out for six months.
Since then, the Chelsea academy graduate has struggled to make a place for himself in the first team. Kakuta was loaned out to Fulham, Bolton Wanderers and Vitesse Arnhem in the Netherlands, but he failed to impress at any of them.
Chelsea released Kakuta in the summer of 2015. After spells in China and Spain, the former Chelsea academy graduate now plies his trade with Lens in Ligue 1.
#1 Islam Feruz
Islam Feruz was backed to have a huge future in the game from a relatively young age. He was an exciting prospect in Celtic's academy, deciding to leave Scottish football for the bright lights of the Premier League.
Feruz joined Chelsea's academy in 2011 when he was just 15. Things started well for him and his rapid rise showed no signs of slowing down at Stamford Bridge. Feruz helped the Blues to the 2012 FA Youth Cup by scoring a superb brace in the first leg of the final.
But it was as good as it got for the Chelsea academy graduate. Subsequently, he endured underwhelming loan spells at OFI Crete, Hibernian and Swindon Town before he was released by Chelsea at the start of 2019.
After his Chelsea release, Feruz retired from the game and has now reportedly turned his attention to selling hats branded with the logo 'Controversial One'. Quite an astonishing change of career for one of the brightest prospects to have been in the Chelsea academy.
