Arnesen's trail of broken hearts

The young players whom Frank Arnesen has signed for Chelsea over the last three years fill the ranks of the club's Under-18 and reserve team sides. The trouble is that they are not knocking on the door of the first team itself which is why the Danish scout who has been one of the most powerful individuals at Roman Abramovich's club is on his way out.

Arnesen has always argued that he needs more time and it is true that the vast majority of the players he has signed are in their late teens. However, his £2m salary has become an expense that Chelsea no longer feel they need to bear in more austere times, especially given the way the funds spent have yet to produce a Wayne Rooney, or a Cesc Fabregas, capable of breaking into the first team as a prodigy.

At Old Trafford last night, Chelsea's Under-18 team played Manchester United in the FA Youth Cup third round. It will be too late to save the man who signed most of them from European clubs such as Bologna, Feyenoord, Atalanta, Lens, Bayer Leverkusen as well as Sheffield United and Leeds. Under Luiz Felipe Scolari there has been no opportunity for the Arnesen-generation to flourish even in the Carling Cup.

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For that game, Scolari cast around for a young player to put on the bench and chose Michael Woods, an 18-year-old Englishman who made occasional appearances under Jose Mourinho. To those within the club it demonstrated just how little attention Scolari has been paying to Arnesen's academy players. There were many others who had a much better case to feature.

Perhaps most staggering about Arnesen's reign has been the amount of money put at his disposal by Abramovich in the salad days of the Russian's ownership. Precise figures on transfer and compensation fees are hard to come by but the cost of 19-year-old Argentine Franco Di Santo, a striker who has had little impact in the first team, is understood to be around £3m. There are still high hopes for Jacob Mellis, a bright England Under-17 prospect from Sheffield United, who cost in excess of £1m.

Some of these players, most notably the French winger Gaël Kakuta from Lens and centre-back Jeffrey Bruma from Feyenoord may yet make the grade. It is notoriously hard to tell with young players but that expertise was why Arnesen was in demand. He signed Daniel Philliskirk, 17, from Oldham Athletic. Arnesen also signed the Danish striker Morten Nielsen, 18, the son of his former Denmark team-mate Benny.

Sergio Tejera, who joined from Espanyol, was hailed as the hottest prospect from Catalonia since Fabregas. Jacopo Sala and Fabio Borini have come from Italy. But it has been Woods and Tom Taiwo, two of Arnesen's first signings from Leeds who have disappointed the most. They cost a total of £5m in compensation with Leeds chairman Ken Bates having accused his former club of an illegal approach.

Last month, Arnesen's scouting network was reduced dramatically in size and he then used an interview around the time of the release of a biography about him entitled Frankie Boy to say that Abramovich had told him to apply "the financial brakes".

After Arnesen departs, he will have to hope that at least one of his young charges gives his legacy some sort of value. Otherwise it will have cost Abramovich a lot of money and the breaking of a few teenage hearts.

Group A

Results: Chelsea 4 Bordeaux 0; Roma 1 CFR Cluj 2; Bordeaux 1 Roma 3; CFR Cluj 0 Chelsea 0; Bordeaux 1 CFR Cluj 0; Chelsea 1 Roma 0; CFR Cluj 1 Bordeaux 2; Roma 3 Chelsea 1; Bordeaux 1 Chelsea 1; CFR Cluj 1 Roma 3.

Remaining fixtures: 9 Dec: Chelsea v CFR Cluj; Roma v Bordeaux.