Academy - New Scholars Sign Up

It is that time of year again when players start returning to Cobham for pre season and for a lucky number of young players they sign their scholarship contracts with Chelsea and that all happened yesterday when a total of 14 players signed on the line.

The players that have signed their deals are:

Jay DaSilva:

Anyone who followed the U18's last season will know Jay, having featured for the U18's in the league program making 23 appearances for them and also finding his way into the FA Youth Cup side as a left winger and making a name for himself and grabbing himself a goal. Small in stature but big on talent I expect Jay to become a more prominent member of the U18's team this season and maybe even break into the U21's.

Ruben Sammut:

Ruben is a Midfielder who has at times operated at right back. He made his debut for the U18's 2 seasons ago and has steadily growing into the side. Last season he made a total of 15 appearances most of them coming in the second half of the season and will be looking improve on his standing in the team in the coming season.

Kyle Scott:

Another Midfielder, Kyle made his debut for the U18's in the season just gone and gradually got more involved in the team as the season went on in the end making a total of 12 appearances at U18's level the majority of them coming from the substitutes bench and even made an appearance in the U19's UEFA Youth League. As with all the scholars Kyle will hope to be much more involved in the coming season.

Domonic Solanke:

It is hard to believe that Solanke is only now signing his scholarship deal having burst on the scene this season and absolutely dominating amking a total of  26 appearances and scoring a very impressive total of 20 goals during the season just gone including the winning goal in the FA Youth Cup final. For Solanke it is likely that he will be pushing for a regular U21's spot this season and I am sure it will be another impressive season, although he will have to go some to top last season.

Fikayo Tomori:

Fikayo is another player who made his U18's debut this season. A defender who is able to play at centre back or right back he made a decent start to his U18's career by making a total of 9 appearances this season with most of them coming at the start of the season.

Charlie Wakefield:

Charlie is an England U16's International and plays as either a defender or as a midfielder. Have seen little of him to date having only made a total of 5 appearances at U18's level last season with 4 of them from the bench but he is a player who seems to have a lot of talent and can expect to have a bigger role to play in the coming season.

Tammy Abraham:

A big lad who plays as a centre forward or from a wide position. Tammy had a decent season particulary at the front end of the season making a total of 16 appearances and scoring 5 goals. Outshone last season by his team mate Solanke I would think that Abraham will be the focal point for the U18's forward line this season with Solanke moving up to the U18's.

Mukhtar Ali:

Ali made a name for himself this season while scoring the winning goal in an international tournament for the U16's in the final against Real Madrid with an audacious free kick from something like 40 yards out. He made his U18's debut last season with only a couple of appearances to his name but this season he was a much more regular feature for the U18's making a total of 23 appearances. Utilised in a midfield or defensive role Mukhtar is a clever little player whith plenty to show us in the coming season.

Faiq Bolkiah:

Faiq only joined Chelsea last season having previously played for Arsenal and Reading. Interestingly Faiq is the nephew of the Sultan of Brunei. Faiq didn't make his U18's debut until March but since then he has managed to make 7 appearances and will make more surely in the coming season.

Isaac Christie-Davies:

Isaac is a midfielder who made his U18's debut in the 2012/13 season but has become more regular this season having made a total of 9 appearances all of them as a starter and spread out over the season. He has grown into the team well and eventually made the squad for the FA Youth Cup team. He is a talented young man and I expect him to have an important role for the U18's this season.

Jake Clarke-Salter:

Jake should be familiar to the majority of the followers of the U18's as he impressed sufficiently enough this season to force his way into the starting 11 for the FA Youth Cup and showed excellent maturity for his age in those games playing alongside Andreas Christensen. It has obviously been a good season for the young man and having made 14 of appearances the season gone he has something good to build on.

Miro Muheim:

Miro is one of 3 new signings to sign up with this group of players. Miro has joined us from FC Zurich and was apparently being chased by a number of top clubs in Europe but he has chosen to join Chelsea. He plays as a winger so it will be interesting to see what kind impact and what he can bring to the team once the season gets underway.

Ali Suljic:

Having played previously for Chelsea at U15's level Ali had not officially joined Chelsea until now. He is a Swedish international defender and has played alongside fellow blue Isak Ssewankambo at international level. Having been given the all clear to officially play for Chelsea he will be hungry to show what he can do and see if he can have as good an impact has his Swedish team mate has had.

Hubert Adamczyk:

The third of the new arrivals to the team Hubert comes to us a midfielder. Of Polish birth he has been described in his own country as a superkid. Now he will need to show that ability at a much higher level and hopefully he can. Described as a midfielder he has featured for Poland in their U17's team on a regular basis.

So there they are, 14 names for you to keep an eye on in the coming season and hopefully to make a big impact and some of them already have.