Chelsea Youngster Slams Club's Youth Policy After Being Farmed Out on Loan (Again!)
Chelsea talent Bertrand Traore has questioned the club's decision to send him out on loan this season after he was involved relatively frequently with the first-team in 2015 and then again during pre-season over the summer.
Traore, who scored four times in 16 appearances in all competitions last season, moved to Ajax for the duration of the campaign in August but appears miffed that he hasn't been given a chance to kick on at Stamford Bridge.
"I felt, and feel, that I am ready for Chelsea. I did not see the loan overall [picture]. Why did I play so much in pre-season? " the 21-year-old Burkina Faso international is quoted as saying by the London Evening Standard.
"Why was I allowed to participate so often under Guus Hiddink?" he asked.
"Why do young players get no real chance at Chelsea? It's good for the composition of the squad if it is also home to a couple of talented youngsters."
Formerly loaned to Vitesse Arnhem in 2014/15, Traore has scored three times for Ajax in all competitions so far this season, starting nine times in the Eredivisie for the Amsterdam club.
A lack of chances for young players has been a major criticism of Chelsea throughout the Roman Abramovich era, with John Terry (debut in 1998) still the last home-grown player to become a first-team regular. That's despite dominating youth level football in recent years.
Ironically, in Traore's absence, manager Antonio Conte has been giving opportunities to those young players who stayed in west London this season. Ola Aina, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Dominic Solanke and Nathaniel Chalobah, in particular, have enjoyed playing time under the Italian.
Conte also recently described teenage strikerTammy Abraham, currently lighting up the Championshipon loan at Bristol City, as "the future of Chelsea".
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