Chelsea

Jose Mourinho: 'Academy developing future first-team players'

By Kristian Johnson, Reporter | 29 July 2014

Jose Mourinho says that the youngsters in Chelsea's academy will be good enough to fight for a place in the matchday squad in the near future.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has said that the club's academy is developing prospect who will go on to become international stars.

With a whole host of Chelsea's World Cup players yet to return to pre-season training, a number of youngsters have been given playing time in recent friendlies and Mourinho has been impressed with the quality on show.

"My conscience tells me that if, for example, Lewis Baker, Isaiah Brown, and Dominic Solanke are not national team players in a few years, I should blame myself," Mourinho told the club's official website.

"They are part of a process the club started without me. In this moment, we have players who will be Chelsea players. And when they become Chelsea players, they will become England players, almost for sure.

"In this moment I start to have this feeling that our Academy is bringing players to our level."

Mourinho has spent in excess of £70m bringing Diego Costa, Cesc Fabregas and Felipe Luis to the club this summer.