Paul Scholes: Will Jose Mourinho make room for Chelsea youth players like Dominic Solanke and Isaiah Brown?

Manchester United legend sees young talent in Chelsea's ranks

(Getty Images)

Paul Scholes believes that Chelsea have the talent in their youth ranks to produce players for the first team - but wonders if Jose Mourinho will risk them.

Writing in his exclusive column for The Independent, the Manchester United legend says he was impressed watching the Blues beat Manchester City in the FA Youth Cup final.

But Scholes, who made his debut for Manchester United as a 19-year-old, is not sure whether Jose Mourinho will take the chance to blood some of the youngsters.

A number of teenagers have been in and around the first-team squad this season - Ruben Loftus-Cheerk, Dominic Solanke, Isaiah Brown, Andreas Christensen and Nathan Ake have all been named on the bench and made the odd substitute appearance - but John Terry, who made his debut in 1998, is the last youth product to make a meaningful contribution to the first team.

Jose Mourinho claims Loftus-Cheek will feature in the first-team next season (Getty Images)

"I look at Chelsea now, and I wonder if they might be working against themselves as well," writes Scholes, who wonders if coming out of retirement blocked Paul Pogba's path to the Manchester United team.

"Watching the FA Youth Cup final second leg I was really impressed with the front three of Dominic Solanke, Isaiah Brown and Tammy Abraham, but especially Solanke and Brown. Solanke is only 17, Brown, 18, so time is on their side, but they were not the only ones. The standard was so high. There are more who I could imagine playing for Chelsea’s first team at some point.

"Will Chelsea, and Jose Mourinho in particular, make the room for these boys? Will the club keep topping up with experienced players every time they lose one, as they surely will with Didier Drogba at the end of this season?

John Terry is the last youth player who has made an impact on the first-team (GETTY IMAGES)

"If, by some chance, Chelsea had a transfer embargo for three years and had no choice but to move these players on to the first team, I don’t believe they would be short of good players.

"To a lesser extent the same would be true at Manchester City, who have some good youngsters too. It would force their hand with the kids. In the short term it might mean that they lost out but the long-term rewards would be huge."