Jose Mourinho responds to calls to promote from Academy this summer

Loftus-Cheek set to start more games next season

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With the success the Academy has had at Chelsea over the last few seasons and this one in particular, there have been plenty of calls for Chelsea to promote from within rather than spend money this summer. Jose Mourinho has those calls.

He said:

'I cannot have a squad of 10 men and 10 kids. Next season, Ruben will not be a kid in the development process. He will be a first-team player, absolutely ready to play and compete. And we will do the same with two or three or four players.

Some of the older ones will go on loan to play every game in the Championship or the Premier League, even abroad. And we will bring some of the younger ones into the process. But to have them all at the same time in the first-team squad is hard. I cannot have a squad of 10 men and 10 kids.

I must have a squad like we have now of 16 or 17 seniors and three or four kids. From that team that won the UEFA Youth League, four belong to my squad. Four are my players, first-team players who train with the first-team every day and develop with the first-team.

When they're not selected with the first-team - and normally they're not selected - they go back and play there. Their development is easier when they're training every day with the first-team, doing pre-season, playing some matches, playing 20 minutes or half an hour in an FA Cup match, Capital One Cup match, even a Champions League match or in the league now and again.

They belong to a process. I can't have 10 of these young players in my squad but I can have three or four and we did that with Loftus-Cheek, Brown, (Andreas) Christensen and (Nathan) Ake - and Solanke a few times.’

For some people that will not be enough but the demands of the club to finish inside the top four will ALWAYS limit the number of players that the club is willing to promote in one season. Think back to Carlo Ancelotti's second season at the club. He let a number of senior players go and replaced them with youngsters. When injuries and suspensions hit the club, we couldn't cope (Remember being beaten 0-3 at home to Sunderland?). The club could not afford to let that happen again.However, I am happy that he is willing to continue for those he believes can make it; train with the first team to hopefully have more involvement next season.