Former development centre officer Michael Beale has praised Chelsea’s past transfer policy for attracting its current talent.
This season has seen a shift in culture, with the transfer ban meaning that the Blues looked to their academy.
Mason Mount, Tammy Abraham and Fikayo Tomori have been regular fixtures in the first team, with Callum Hudson-Odoi and Reece James also playing their part.
Jose Mourinho was constantly criticised due to bringing in top talent into the club, rather than using the youth players at the club, however Beale believes that has now paid dividends.
"We brought in Mourinho as manager and then we went from Battersea Park and Harlington to Cobham, which was an unbelievable training ground," he told Goal.
"So, it was easy to recruit for Chelsea because they were a club people were looking at and very excited about.
"The problem [for the young players trying to break through at that time] was that Chelsea were one of the best teams in the world. They had five national team captains at one point!
"These guys were kings; they weren’t normal footballers. They are all legends now: [Michael] Ballack, [Frank] Lampard, Claude Makelele, William Gallas, [John] Terry, Ashley Cole, Branislav Ivanovic, Arjen Robben, [Didier] Drogba, Nicolas Anelka and Florent Malouda.
"But having these names at the club inspired [the likes of Abraham, Mount and Loftus-Cheek] to join. On top of that, Neil Bath ran a fantastic academy and had a big vision for the academy.”
