What Chelsea youngster was “demanding” as a 14 year old according to pundit | OneFootball

Steve Sidwell was working as a pundit for TNT Sport last night on the coverage of Chelsea’s win over Djurgarden, and the former Blues midfielder had some interesting insight on one player in particular.

Chelsea started the game with 4 academy products on the pitch and ended the game having introduced 3 more. It was a truly remarkable game on that front. Sidwell knows one of them well – he worked with Shim Mheuka at Brighton, before the Blues snapped him up as a 15 year old to join their own academy.

TNT Pundit on working with breakout Chelsea youngster

Shim Mheuka prepares for his senior Chelsea debut.

“I coached Shimmy when he was at Brighton,” Sidwell explained.

“I was doing the Under-16s and he was a 14-year-old then and demanding about how he should be playing, starting, for the Under-16s which goes to show the confidence the young man has in joining in.”

Mheuka has had a few appearances in this competition – and even a start at one stage. Last night 16 year old Reggie Walsh got his first start. Meanwhile Tyrique George and Josh Acheampong have been regulars in the European team this season. Back in the group stage, Sam Rak-Sakyi, Harrison Murray-Campbell and Kiano Dyer also made brief appearances.

Landon Emenalo came on as a sub in the unfortunate home loss to Legia Warsaw in the last round.

That’s before you even consider senior players like Reece James, Trevoh Chalobah and Levi Colwill who have been first team regulars for years in some cases.

Next season will prove hard to replicate golden era

Of course next year it won’t be as easy to give out all these debuts as we won’t be in the Conference League anymore, and the opposition will be that much tougher. But it’s still a big moment for all these youngsters, and for the rest of the academy as they get the clear signal that there is still a first team pathway open.