What happened to Chelsea’s last 10 Young Player of the Year winners?

Chelsea has received harsh criticism in recent years for failing to develop enough young players. Up until recently, Chelsea was frequently criticized for not giving its young players a chance. Learn more now to have a closer look at the current status of Chelsea’s last 10 Young Player of the Year winners.

List of Players of the Year

Mason Mount and Reece James, alumni of the Cobham academy, are currently excelling at the senior level, but that wasn’t always the case.Let’s chelsea-football.net discover Nathan Ake, Kurt Zouma, Andreas Christensen and other names of the last 10 players who won the award, dating back to 2007 and what they’re doing today.

Since Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich acquired ownership of Chelsea in 2003, the team saw incredible success. It has been the most fruitful time in the 113-year existence of the west London team in terms of trophies won.

The club’s ‘Young Player of the Year’ award, which differed from their Academy Player of the Year award, was given out from 1983 to 2019, with no awards given out in the previous two years.

Previous winners have included Jody Morris, John Terry, Carlton Cole, and Robert Huth three times in a row.

2007: John Obi Mikel

Mikel joined Chelsea in 2006 and went on to win two Premier League titles, three FA Cups, the Champions League, and the Europa League in his 11 years at the club.

Since leaving the club in 2017, Mikel has played for five different clubs in five years, including Tianjin TEDA, Middlesbrough, Trabzonspor, Stoke City, and Kuwait SC.

The Nigerian is currently without a club after being released by Kuwait in November after appearing in just five games in four months.

2009: Michael Mancienne

Mancienne joined Chelsea as a nine-year-old but struggled for first-team opportunities, making only six appearances.

After playing for Hamburg and Nottingham Forest, the 32-year-old joined the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer in 2018.

He returned to England three years later and now plays for Burton Albion under former Chelsea striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.

2011: Josh McEachran

McEachran, who made his Premier League and Champions League debuts at the age of 17, had high expectations from Chelsea.

However, the midfielder failed to live up to his potential and was released by Jose Mourinho in 2015.

He spent four injury-plagued years at Brentford before joining Birmingham City on a free transfer in 2019, only to be limited to eight league appearances due to further fitness issues. He now plays for MK Dons on a regular basis.

2012: Lucas Piazon

Piazon joined Chelsea in 2011 as one of the world’s most sought-after young players, and he was instrumental in the club’s FA Youth Cup victory in 2012.

On his one and only Premier League appearance, he missed a penalty and assisted in an 8-0 win over Aston Villa.

In September 2019, Piazon told A Bola, “My time at Chelsea is already over.” “I’m 25 years old and have been on loan several times.” I’ve been at Chelsea since 2011, and I’ve been on loan in almost every country in Europe.

“I’m tired of playing here and there; I need a place to call home.” I’d like to know if I’ll be returning to the same location, to the same house, in July.”

The Brazilian finally got his wish in January 2021, when he signed a permanent contract with Portuguese club Braga, having been Chelsea’s longest-serving player at the time of his departure.

2013: Nathan Ake

Ake only made 17 first-team appearances for Chelsea before signing a permanent deal with Bournemouth in search of regular football in 2017.

The versatile defender proved his worth there, earning a £41 million transfer to Manchester City following the Cherries’ relegation in 2020. He’s now a Premier League winner, but he’s still a fringe player for Pep Guardiola’s behemoths.

2014: Lewis Baker

Baker made his Chelsea first-team debut against Derby County in the FA Cup in 2014, and eight years later, he came on as a second-half substitute as Thomas Tuchel’s Blues defeated Chesterfield 5-1 in the FA Cup third round.

Baker, another ‘perennial loanee,’ had varying degrees of success at Sheffield Wednesday, MK Dons, Vitesse (of course), Middlesbrough, Leeds, Reading, Fortuna Dusseldorf, and Trabzonspor before joining Stoke on a permanent transfer in January 2022.

On his Potters debut, he scored a fantastic goal.

2015: Kurt Zouma

Zouma joined Chelsea from Saint-Etienne for £12 million in 2014, and he won the Premier League and League Cup in his first season.

However, a cruciate ligament injury halted his progress, and he was loaned out to Stoke City and then Everton.

The France international returned to Chelsea and established himself as a valuable squad player under Lampard and Tuchel before joining West Ham for a fee of £29.8 million last summer.

He’s looked as reliable as ever for David Moyes’ Hammers, but injuries have hampered his first season there.

2016: Ruben Loftus-Cheek

Since breaking through as a promising prospect six years ago, the England international has had an up-and-down career.

He’s occasionally lived up to that potential at senior level, but serious injuries and underwhelming loan spells at Crystal Palace and Fulham have raised doubts about whether he’ll ever be the player many expected him to be on a consistent basis.

Loftus-Cheek has returned to his boyhood club and has put in some impressive performances for Tuchel’s side this season, but regular starts have been difficult to come by due to the stacked midfield options.

2018: Andreas Christensen

Christensen established himself as a mainstay of the Chelsea defense under Antonio Conte in 2017-18 after a promising loan spell at Borussia Monchengladbach, winning this award after taking a year off for some reason.

The centre-back fell out of favor under Maurizio Sarri and was in and out of the side under Lampard, but he’s been in the best shape of his career since Tuchel’s arrival, looking like Ricardo Carvalho reborn.

He’s out of contract in the summer, and losing him on a free agent would be a huge blow.

2019: Callum Hudson-Odoi

Hudson-Odoi is another highly rated prospect to emerge from the Chelsea academy, and the winger has already played more than 100 senior games.

It’s easy to forget he’s only 21. He still has some growing to do if he wants to play in Chelsea’s best XI, but he appears to be on the right track.

He’s also been capped three times by England, but new reports suggest that the youngster will switch to represent his birth country, Ghana, in the future.

Above is all about chelsea young players of the year with their remarkable contribution to the Blues and their current situations. Follow Blog Chelsea Football to keep up with their performances, and watch live matches of Chelsea in the coming season.