Enzo Maresca went surprisingly early on at least one element of his team for tomorrow night’s Conference League final, confirming a full week ago that Filip Jorgensen will start in goal.
He was coy on the rest of his team - “Filip and ten others,” he said last Tuesday - and unsurprisingly so, given Chelsea had at that stage not played their final Premier League game, Sunday’s 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest, which secured a Champions League return.
Maresca has grumbled at the tight turnaround from that fixture and hinted at a degree of rotation but the expectation is that the Italian will field a strong lineup in Wroclaw, rather than rewarding the fringe players who brought Chelsea this far.
In fairness, that will be made easier by the fact that the distinction between ‘A’ and ‘B’ teams is not as clear as it once was. Many of the group stage’s stalwarts left on loan in January and Maresca has been forced to use star players like Cole Palmer, Nicolas Jackson and Moises Caicedo more often in the knockout stages.
But for all this competition’s use as an arena to give senior squad players minutes has faded as the season has worn on, it has remained a useful schooling ground for Cobham’s best young talent throughout the campaign.
“I think it's definitely a stepping stone to men's football,” said Josh Acheampong, one of 13 Chelsea academy graduates to have featured in the competition this term. They include the established names of Reece James, Trevoh Chalobah and Levi Colwill, but nine were teenagers at the time of their first appearances and of those, Acheampong was the only one to have played senior football before.
In some cases, Maresca has already seen direct reward. There looked little room in the first team squad for another winger when Tyrique George made his debut in the qualifying round win over Servette, but by the semi-final, he was starting both legs, having scored a vital Premier League equaliser at Fulham a week or two before. Acheampong, too, played a key part in seeing Chelsea through their defensive injury crisis in January, until Chalobah was recalled from loan.
Others have presented a tantalising glimpse of the future, none more so than the most recent debutant, Reggie Walsh. Aged just 16 years and 193 days, the midfielder became the third-youngest player in Chelsea history when coming off the bench against Djurgardens and then the club’s youngest ever European starter when making the XI for the return leg.
“I love Reggie because he's that kind of player that, in my system, in the way I want to play, it's perfect,” Maresca said afterwards.
How many of the youngsters will play a part tomorrow night remains to be seen, though with enlarged European squads, several will be on the bench at least, with Acheampong and George the two most likely to be involved.
That pair were promoted to the first team on the same day earlier this season, given adjacent lockers in the senior dressing room having played youth football together since the age of ten.
“It was just really unexpected,” Acheampong said. “I remember they said we had a meeting in the changing room, and I'm thinking, 'why are we having a meeting in the changing room?' And they told us we can get in our locker.
“It's nice to have Tyrique there, especially in the start when I didn't really know the players on a personal level. Having Tyrique there helped me be comfortable.”
It has been important, too, for broader perceptions that two young players have made significant breakthroughs this season. Chelsea’s attitude towards its own has been criticised in recent years, with controversy over the ‘pure profit’ sales of homegrown talent like Mason Mount and, in particular, Conor Gallagher last summer. It certainly did not help that Acheampong spent the first half of the season frozen out amid a contract dispute, which he says Maresca was key to resolving.
“He was a big part,” he said. “He told me about my potential and stuff, so it was a no-brainer.”
The policy to target some of the world’s best teenage talent - including the likes of Kendry Paez and Willian Estevao, who will arrive this summer - has led to fears of pathways being blocked at Chelsea and without this competition next season it may be that some of Cobham’s own are best served going out on loan.
For Acheampong, George and the rest, though, all focus for now is on what would be a first trophy of their careers.
