The club’s youth program has produced several first-team players, including Reece James, Trevoh Chalobah, Levi Colwill, and Conor Gallagher.

Numerous former Chelsea youth players are currently thriving for different clubs; this includes Nathan Ake, Fikayo Tomori, and Marc Guehi.

But, there are a lot of young players hoping to make the jump to the senior team soon, and that has always been Cobham’s primary goal.

Five Blues youth players are profiled by the Chelsea Chronicle as potential starters for the first preseason under new manager Enzo Maresca.Defender: Bashir Humphreys

At the tail end of the 2022–23 German second division season, Bashir Humphreys appeared in 12 league games for SC Paderborn. He then played 26 games across all competitions for Swansea City last season in the Championship. With two loan spells under his belt and at 21 years of age, he is more than qualified to have an opportunity to wow Maresca during preseason. But the abundance of central defenders currently on staff is the biggest problem Humphreys might encounter.

The defendant is Ishe Samuels-Smith.

Samuels, Ishe -Smith, who is only 18 years old, could use a loan to a lower division club. Having said that, his profile is something that Chelsea are missing and that Maresca adores. The inverted left-back position, which Maresca used with success with Leicester City teammates Wout Faes and James Justin, would be a great fit for him as a center-back/left-back.

As a midfielder, Alex Matos

Alex Matos is in with a real shot at making Chelsea’s 2024–25 team. Although he was unable to prevent Huddersfield Town’s relegation after joining the club in January, he was an outstanding box-to-box midfielder. Matos, who is only 19 years old, has tremendous physicality for his age and could see action as a replacement in Maresca’s second half lineup.

Midfielder Leo Casteldine

With оmari Kellyman’s arrival, the Blues have nо shоrtage оf оffensive midfielders; yet, Leо Castledine merits a chance tо shine during the team’s preseasоn tоur оf the United States. In 18 games played fоr Chelsea’s under-21 squad last seasоn in Premier League 2, Casteldine cоntributed ten gоals and eight assists. He cоuld see a significant increase in playing time in the 2024–25 seasоn after making his first-team debut in January’s 6-1 EFL Cup semi-final victоry оver Middlesbrоugh fоr the West Lоndоn club.