da bet7： While they’ve not all been hits, Chelsea have signed some seriously talented players over the last few years.
da gbg bet： The best of them all, though, has undoubtedly been Cole Palmer, who has taken the Premier League by storm since his arrival in 2023.
The Englishman has already produced 74 goal involvements for the side in just 101 appearances and, so long as he’s fit, will most certainly be going to the World Cup with England.
So it’s great news that Cobham looks like it may well have just produced Chelsea a right-footed version of the ice-cold superstar.
Chelsea's most exciting academy gems
Cobham has long been one of, if not the best, academies in England, and there are once again a handful of seriously exciting academy prospects who could soon be making a significant impact on the Chelsea first team.
In The Pipeline
Football FanCast’s In the Pipeline series aims to uncover the very best youth players in world football.
For example, Shim Mheuka has been on fire for some time now and even made a few appearances for the senior side last season.
As things stand, the 18-year-old phenomenon has scored 13 goals and provided three assists in just 12 appearances across various youth sides, totalling 977 minutes.
Appearances
61
Goals
34
Assists
9
Goal Involvements per Match
0.70
That comes out to an outrageous average of 1.33 goal involvements every game, or one every 61.06 minutes, and helps to explain why respected talent scout Jacek Kulig has described him as “the future of Chelsea and English football.”
Moving deeper down the pitch, and while it’s likely going to be a couple of years before he’s given a chance in the first team, Reggie Watson looks to be the real deal.
The 15-year-old can, and has played in a few positions for the youth sides, but is at his best as a six, with respected analyst Ben Mattinson describing him as a “midfield powerhouse.”
Another analyst has highlighted his impressive “passing and vision” as well as his knack for “dictating the tempo of the game.”
He’s not just impressive at club level either, as, after producing six goal involvements in six appearances for England’s under-15s, he was moved up to the under-16s, where he has already scored three goals in just six games.
With all that said, there is another gem who is arguably the most exciting of the lot, and the one who could be Chelsea’s own homegrown Palmer.
Chelsea's homgrown Palmer
While there are an impressive number of academy talents who could become first-team stars at Chelsea, one of the most exciting, and the one who could become the club’s homegrown Palmer, is Reggie Walsh.
The 17-year-old gem joined the Blues at the under-8s level and has worked his way through the academy, impressing at every step of the way and made his competitive debut for the club in the first leg of their Conference League semi-final against Djurgarden last season.
He then became the club’s youngest European starter in the second leg, aged just 16 years and 200 days.
With all that said, what about him means he could be the club’s next Palmer?
Well, while he hasn’t got an outrageous goalscoring record with the youth sides, he, like the Blues starman, is a proper entertainer on the ball, someone capable of doing the simple things while also playing with some flair.
For example, he has been described as a “truly ridiculous” talent by Como scout Felix Johnston, and when asked about him last season, Maresca was full of praise for his playstyle, describing him as “perfect for our system.”
As if that wasn’t enough, another analyst claimed the youngster is “a joy to watch”, and u23 scout Antonio Mango went even further than that, stating that “watching Reggie Walsh perform is a thing of beauty.”
The right-footed gem isn’t just making waves at club level, though, as he’s gone through England’s u15s, u16s, u17s and u18s.
Ultimately, it is still so early in his career, but Walsh is clearly a star in the making, and like Palmer, is a truly entertaining player to watch.
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