TODAYS DEBATE: Where do you draw the line at Chelsea?

As we all know by now Michael Mancienne has signed for Hamburg, Scott Sinclair has been promoted after a fantastic season in the Championship at Swansea and Fabio Borini looks like he is about to sign for Parma on a free transfer. Just three of our "promising" youngsters who have had to make the move elsewhere to establish themselves within football.

Scott Sinclair is quoted in The Sun today about leaving Chelsea and said:

"Leaving Chelsea was the best decision I ever made as I'm finally playing every weekend, showing everyone what I can do".

We all know it's difficult at Chelsea to break through and the days of Chelsea having someone like John Terry come through the ranks to the first team and lead the side to three Premiership titles could be a long way away.

If anyone has made an impact this season then it's young Josh McEachran. Judging by the amount of game time he has been given this season, you would imagine he is THE ONE that the club are pinning their hopes on to follow in JT's footsteps. The problem is that too many youngsters are judged as failing to make the grade here and are shown the door.

So I am wondering being a club as we are now, fighting for major honours domestically and within europe every season, where do we draw the line with the way we operate with our youngsters?.

If Sinclair can have the season he has just had in the Championship then who's to say he wouldn't have something like that next season?. He could of course have a stinker of a season in the Premier League and realise that "his level" is the Championship, but at least he would have been given a crack at it by Swansea.

Michael Mancienne is being talked about as a future England international, has featured on loan at Wolves in the Premier League for two seasons now so why do we not give him a chance at Chelsea?.

Fabio Borini scores goals for fun in the reserves and has proven he has an eye for a goal during his loan spell at Swansea. Could it be he has also found "his level" in the Championship or should we have given him a crack at Chelsea?

Let's not forget Danny Sturridge who has been a revelation at Bolton. He has made it clear, he is at an age now after playing week in, week out with Bolton, that he wants to be playing every week next season in the Premier League and if he doesn't get given the chance at Chelsea WILL have to move!.

The questions are there to be discussed but we do all have to remember one thing. The demands at Chelsea are huge now compared to what they were 10 years ago. We have seen big name managers being sacked at the club because of the performance of the team both domestically and in europe. Mourinho, Scolari and now Ancelotti have all gone because of the "standards" the club expect during the course of a season.

Is it now a case of our youngsters knowing they will never ever be given a chance to show what they can do in the first team and realise that Chelsea will become a stepping stone to first team football elsewhere?. Or will one day Chelsea decide that they are able to ease their expectations from a season to allow the likes of a Sinclair, Mancienne and Borini to play regular first team football to gain experience that will benefit both the club and those players?. Will we see Danny Sturridge feature regularly at Chelsea up front next to Torres next season?.

I have read numerous comments on here in response to my blog posts stating that Josh McEachran should have started more games in the place of Mikel or Essien when they both had a dip in their form during the season. Is that a fair comment or are we expecting too much too soon from the lad?.

It's a very difficult situation to judge here, especially after what happened to us last season. There was a big song and dance made by the club about bringing the best of our youngsters through in place of big names who left the club. The view was that they would bed in and be given important game time during the whole season while the first team was still performing to the expectations of our board but we all know what happened.

So to you the Chelsea fan reading this, I would love to hear your views on a subject that will run and run as we continue to see our youngsters move away from the club and do well. So answer me this:

Where do we draw the line at Chelsea when it comes to our youngsters? Should we continue as we are or should we realistically give them a go and see what happens based on the current expectations at Chelsea?

Like I said, I would love to hear from you all on this.

KTBFFH

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