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In recent years, Chelsea have been one of the most successful teams in youth competitions. They have won the FA Youth Cup in each of the last four seasons and also triumphed in the UEFA Youth League in both 2015 and 2016.
But their graduates have then struggled to establish themselves in the first team. We've seen very few making the odd appearance but no one has really been given a string of chances in the first team.
It wasn’t always that way. Chelsea were once known as a side who built their teams around players from their youth academy. They had a particularly productive period during the 1950s and 1960s, which formed the basis of one of the best sides they had prior to the arrival of Russian riches.
Here are 5 of the best homegrown players in Chelsea’s history. It must be noted that this primarily takes into account achievements in Chelsea colours and so other household names such as Jimmy Greaves and Ray Wilkins, who came up through the club’s ranks but enjoyed the majority of their success elsewhere, have not been included.
#5 Graeme Le Saux
Broadly speaking, there have been three successful eras in Chelsea’s history: the early-1960s to early 1970s; 2004 to the present day; and sandwiched between them, a run of cup-competition triumphs in the late nineties.
Academy graduate Graeme Le Saux joined Chelsea in 1987 after being spotted at a local tournament on his birth-island of Jersey by then-manager John Hollins (more of him later) and established himself in the first team in the early nineties before moving on to Blackburn Rovers in 1993.
He returned in 1997, making a further 172 league appearances and playing his part in three Cup-winning runs. Chelsea won the League Cup and the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1998 and then went on to win the FA Cup two years later in 2000.
A diminutive but technically adept full-back, Le Saux also made 36 appearances for England between 1994 and 2000 and played a part in the 1998 World Cup in France.
#4 Peter Bonetti
Relegation to the second division in 1962 provided just the impetus Chelsea required to rebuild their first team with products from the youth academy, including those who helped the club to triumphs in the FA Youth Cup in 1960 and 1961.
Manager Tommy Docherty oversaw a complete overhaul of the squad and put in place the seeds for a series of strong league finishes and three cup-competition triumphs between then and the early 1970s.
Peter Bonetti was an ever-present between the sticks throughout that period. He was part of the FA-Youth-Cup winning squad of 1960 and swiftly became the first choice for the first team.
While he is somewhat unfortunately remembered by many as the flailing stand-in for Gordon Banks in England’s World Cup quarter-final defeat to West Germany in 1970, at club level he is recalled as an agile goalkeeper who often made excellent saves.
With Chelsea, Bonetti won the League Cup in 1965, the FA Cup in 1970 and the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1971, while his record of 729 first-team appearances is second only to that of Ron Harris.
#3 John Hollins
John Hollins made his Chelsea debut at 17 in 1963 and was a key midfield presence in their successes in the League Cup, FA Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup.
A committed yet talented midfielder, he served as club captain, won the club’s Player-of-the-Year honours in both 1970 and 1971 and at one stage put together 167 consecutive appearances - a club record.
He even added a second division title to his list of triumphs when he returned in 1983 following spells at Queens Park Rangers and Arsenal for one final season at the club before retirement.
Hollins took over as manager in 1985 and briefly seemed on course to lead Chelsea to a league title in the 1985-86 season, only for things to fall apart in the latter stages of the campaign.
#2 Ron Harris
If there is one player whose name is synonymous with Chelsea then it’s Ron Harris. Widely known by his nickname ‘Chopper,’ Harris was an uncompromising central defender who won the FA Youth Cup with Chelsea in 1961 and went on to make nearly 800 senior appearances for the club in all competitions during a 19-year career at Stamford Bridge.
He came up through the ranks with his elder brother Allan Harris and was a vital presence in the aforementioned League Cup, FA Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup triumphs from the mid-1960s through to the early 1970s.
Harris was particularly decisive in the infamous 1970 FA Cup final against Leeds United. He put in plenty of rough challenges, including a well-remembered lunge in the replay that took out Leeds’ playmaker Eddie Gray, but it was also his quick-thinking that caught the Leeds defence napping in the build-up to Ian Hutchinson’s late equaliser in the original match.
A club living legend, Harris has a suite named after him at Stamford Bridge.
#1 John Terry
John Terry stands out as the homegrown player who managed to carve out a place for himself at Chelsea during the most successful era in the club’s history.
Terry began his youth career at West Ham but joined Chelsea at 15 and went on to make his first-team debut at 17. By the age of 20, he had begun to establish himself as a first-team regular and in 2004, aged 24, he was made club captain by new coach Jose Mourinho.
So began a period of unparalleled success, with Terry a consistent presence at the heart of the Chelsea defence. Five Premier League titles, four FA Cups, three League Cups, one Europa League and the crowning glory of the Champions League were won as Roman Abramovich’s riches certified Chelsea as a key player in domestic and European football.
When Terry left for Aston Villa last summer, he did so as the most successful captain in Chelsea’s history, having made a total of 717 appearances for the club in all competitions.
