5 former Chelsea academy players who probably wish they could've played under Frank Lampard

#2 Dominic Solanke

After failing to gain opportunities at Chelsea, Dominic Solanke is now part of Bournemouth's first team

A Chelsea player from the age of just 7, striker Dominic Solanke was once so highly rated by the Blues that in 2014, then-manager Jose Mourinho – renowned for his lack of trust in younger talent – stated that he would blame himself if Solanke (along with fellow youth stars Izzy Brown and Lewis Baker) failed to become an England senior player.

Some five years later, Solanke has earned a lone cap for the Three Lions, but Mourinho should hardly feel vindicated, as the striker’s modest achievements thus far in his career have all come after he left Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2017. Solanke was fantastic as a youth player at Chelsea, scoring plenty of goals for their developmental teams and being named Academy Player of the Year in 2014/15.

A loan to Eredivisie side Vitesse followed, with Solanke becoming just one of 5 Chelsea players heading to the Dutch side in 2015/16. He scored 7 goals in 25 games during his time there and looked like he was ready for a shot at Chelsea’s first team – but 2016/17 proved to be a frustrating season for him and he made no appearances at all.

May 2017 saw him head to Liverpool in a somewhat ill-advised move, but despite winning the U-20 World Cup with England weeks later, chances for playing time were few and far between at Anfield. In January 2019 Solanke decided to move again, this time to Bournemouth – and while he has yet to find the net for the Cherries, he has at least established himself in their first team.

While the jury is largely still out on Solanke’s ability as a striker at the very top level, it’s clear that he still has plenty of raw ability – and it’s easy to imagine an alternate reality with him playing the Tammy Abraham role for Lampard at Stamford Bridge had he stuck around.