EXCLUSIVE
Andy Townsend believes that Chelsea must back their young stars in the same way Wayne Rooney was backed during his emerging years.
Mauricio Pochettino's side have endured a disjointed season on the whole, but have seen an upturn in form recently having gone seven matches unbeaten in the Premier League.
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As a result, the Blues now find themselves firmly in the hunt for European football.
Chelsea have spent over £1billion since Todd Boehly's takeover of the club in May 2022, with the focus being on young, talented players who have the potential to reach the very top of the game.
While stars such as Cole Palmer have found their feet, others including Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia and Mykhailo Mudryk have failed to hit the heights following their big-money moves to Stamford Bridge.
According to Townsend, part of that failure to hit the ground running is the lack of faith shown in them by Pochettino on a weekly basis.
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Speaking on The Sports Breakfast, Townsend said: "I think you need to understand that they’re going to need a little bit of time and that they are going to have period where they seem to lose their way and it’s about taking them out of the team, putting them back in and then handling that experience for them.
“I’m also a believer that you don’t wet-nurse people in top-class football. You can’t.
“When Wayne Rooney burst onto the scene at 16 it was inevitable that this guy was going to play somewhere every week at the top of the game.
“It’s the same for others in the game – Giggsy [Ryan Giggs] and others like that. They are so good that they have to go in and play.
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“Chelsea have got a lot of players where if you continue to try and ‘manage’ them – by that, I mean leaving them in one minute and then having them out the next – you’re never quite sure what they’re going to give you or how they’re developing.
“I think that you take the best of those younger players and you stick with them and trust them and put your absolute faith in them – mistakes and all.
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“You stick with them and get them playing with the understanding that to be a top player, you’ve got to play them every week.
“You’ve got to play every week. Too many nowadays think I’ll probably play this week, I might play next week and after that I probably won’t – no, you’ve got to play every week if you want to be considered a top player.
“I don’t think Chelsea have got enough of those ‘every week’ players yet for to get up that table and for those players to class those players as proper Premier League players.”