ENZO MARESCA has a wealth of talent at his disposal at Stamford Bridge, with three Cobham starlets already working their way towards first-team involvement.
After starring during the international break for England‘s youth teams, 16-year-old Ryan Kavuma-McQueen and 17-year-old Shim Mheuka are two attackers the Italian boss is keen to have available for selection going forward.
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Enzo Maresca beamed as he discussed Chelsea’s young talentCredit: Getty
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Shim Mheuka debuted for the Blues’ first team last seasonCredit: Getty
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Ryan Kavuma-McQueen was recently in stunning form on international dutyCredit: Getty
Mheuka, who made his Premier League and European debuts for the senior team last season, scored five goals in three games for the Young Lions, while winger Kavuma-McQueen made headlines with a four-goal haul against Germany‘s under-17s.
With Cole Palmer and Liam Delap both injured, there may be a spot for these youngsters sooner than anticipated, especially when the Blues travel to Lincoln in the Carabao Cup on 24th September, with Marc Guiu cup-tied for that game.
Maresca opened up in his Friday press conference on the impressive pair: “They are both in my plans, for sure. Shimmy was already with us and played some games for us last year. Ryan is more of a winger.
“I was watching when Ryan scored four goals against Germany, so I was very impressed, but I already knew him. One of my staff is always watching the youth team; they told me he was very good.
I’ve always said with young players, you have to be calm because they can change every day. For sure, though, he is one of the players we are looking at.”
Kavuma-McQueen is incredibly highly rated by those involved in the Chelsea youth system, and the Blues are keen for him not to become the next Rio Ngumoha, who joined Liverpool in pursuit of first-team opportunities he has now been granted.
That’s why, after fighting off interest from Liverpool and Barcelona for his signature, they will be thrilled that he is set to sign his first professional contract with the club when he turns 17 on New Year’s Day 2026.
While Maresca was left impressed by the two goal-scoring Brits at his disposal, he admitted he has a favourite when it comes to Blues’ youngsters.
Rio Ngumoha dramatically burst onto the scene against NewcastleCredit: Shutterstock Editorial
The Chelsea boss isn’t necessarily known for his enthusiasm in press conferences, but when asked about youngster Reggie Walsh, he was warmth personified with a smile plastered across his face.
Walsh, 16, has been training with the first team and was one of a record-breaking eight youngsters to be given a first team shot last season, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see him get more chances this year with the Blues already facing injuries to some of their key midfielders.
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Maresca added: “I like all the academy guys, but Reggie is the one I like more than the rest, he’s my favourite.
“He’s very good, but because they are from the academy, we need to protect them.
“We already have the youngest squad in Premier League history, and last year we gave so many debuts to academy players. But Reggie is doing things that I demand of other players, and does them without me asking him to. That’s why I love Reggie.”
While Brentford may come too soon for the Cobham trio, they are all likely to feature when the Chelsea U21’s take on Ipswich next Saturday at Kingsmeadow.
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Reggie Walsh has hugely impressed MarescaCredit: Shutterstock Editorial
WHEN Rio Ngumoha curled in his historic goal for Liverpool, fans of Chelsea AND Manchester United should have felt a kick in the guts.
Because although the teenage winger left the Blues’ Academy to join the Reds last year, London-born Ngumoha was a childhood United fan who spent time with the Red Devils before opting for Anfield.
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Rio Ngumoha scored a beauty on his Premier League debut for LiverpoolCredit: Getty
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But Chelsea and Man United would have winced as the strike hit the back of the netCredit: Getty
The wonderkid’s sensational winner against Newcastle made him the youngest scorer in Liverpool’s history and the fourth youngest in the Premier League era.
At 16 years and 361 days, Ngumoha was just one day older than Wayne Rooney when he announced himself to the world with an amazing strike against Arsenal in October 2022.
And it left Chelsea supporters in particular wondering how the club let one of English football’s greatest young talents get away.
Stamford Bridge legend John Terry is among those devastated that the club lost Ngumoha to their rivals.
Terry told SunSport: “He is a very ambitious boy that wanted to play first-team football and believed that was his pathway into Liverpool’s first team.
“I’m still in contact with him, but just a fantastic player.
“There’s going to be many more over the years that as an academy you lose, but there’s always one that you think, a bit gutted we missed out on that one.”
Terry has been back at Chelsea for a couple of years as a mentor to players at the club’s Academy and knew Ngumoha was something special.
Terry said: “We had a really good under-14 team and he was a big part of that.
“Just seeing him taking it and driving the defenders, being a defender myself, [I was] thinking I wouldn’t have liked that at all.
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“You don’t see too many players that are exciting like him anymore.
“He was a very confident player, taking the ball on the back foot, lots of personality, very confident in himself.
“Since the likes of [Eden] Hazard and Joe Cole and those types of players that are very confident and get the fans off their seat as well…I think football’s become a little bit stale and a little bit kind of tactical over the last four or five years.
“It’s refreshing to see players like him in the team and I’m sure the Liverpool players are speaking very well of him.
“He will be a top, top player, I’m sure of that.”
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Ngumoha was a star of the Blues’ Cobham academyCredit: Getty
From the moment Ngumoha came on against Newcastle, he showed the same confidence that had seen him grab the headlines in pre-season.
Terry was speaking after the winger had crowned a brilliant run with a fabulous finish in a friendly against Athletic Bilbao at Anfield, following an earlier strike against Yokohama Mariners during the Reds’ Far East tour.
Terry said: “He’s still only 16, which is incredible, but the confidence to kind of shrug people off, well-known established players in the Premier League, and go on and kind of chop inside and then put it in the bottom corner is a very good thing to do.
“But he showed that ability in the academy and unfortunately we’ve lost him.
“I don’t want to put too much pressure on the boy, and I wish him well because he’s a great player.
“He’s also a great little kid as well, someone who wants to learn and wants to get better.”
Chelsea fans will be as gutted as Terry about losing Ngumoha, but United supporters should also wonder what might have been.
Because in one of his few interviews, he revealed that he was a United fan.
In a viral TikTok video promoting Adidas’ F50 boots, in which he was made to choose between David Beckham and Jude Bellingham, Ngumoha admitted: “I’m a Man United fan, I didn’t really watch Beckham, but I have to go with David Beckham”
In June last year Ngumoha spent time with United, who pushed for his signature, but admitted defeat to their rivals who were further ahead in the race to sign the talented youngster.
Mystery surrounds the details of Ngumoha’s move from London to Anfield.
Often when the hottest young talents change club, the saga is played out in public in a bitter row.
In response to losing one of their most talented teenagers, the Stamford Bridge hierarchy reportedly DENIED accreditation requests from Liverpool and Manchester United scouts who would be looking to poach their top players – though those in charge denied having done so.
In Ngumoha’s case there is radio silence, with no confirmation of what compensation Liverpool have had to pay Chelsea to snatch the player who joined the Blues Academy when he was eight.
Compare and contrast what happened when the Reds poached two other youngsters from London clubs.
Fulham were furious when Liverpool moved for Harvey Elliott in 2019 when he was 16.
It was not until February 2021 that the Reds were ordered to pay £1.5m, plus up to £2.8m in performance-related add-ons – a record fee at the time for a player of that age.
Further back, Liverpool caused controversy with their signing of Raheem Sterling.
The QPR youngster was only 15 when the Reds made their move in 2010, joining for an initial fee of £450,000 which would rise to up to £2m.
Ngumoha’s brilliance was no secret to anyone involved in youth development in English football.
He played a key role in Chelsea’s under-16 team being crowned national champions.
Ngumoha’s amazing individual goal for the Blues against Wolves in the Premier League Cup final for Under-17 sides in April 2024 was perhaps the first time a wider public saw his talent up close.
Ngumoha joined Liverpool officially in September last year, a few days after turning 16.
That is the age at which young players can sign two-year scholarship terms at clubs which combine more intensive training with ongoing academic execution.
Only Chelsea know what they offered him to sign scholar’s terms.
Transfer commentator Fabrizio Romano reported that the Reds broke their usual pay structure for young players to sign Ngumoha.
Others, including Terry, say that Ngumoha was impressed by the pathway for young players at Anfield after Conor Bradley and Jarell Quansah were fast-tracked into the first team.
But the reality is that clubs poach each other’s top young talent all the time and Chelsea do it as much, if not more, than anyone else.
Tyler Dibling, like Ngumoha, was 16 when he left Southampton for the Blues in 2022, only to return to the Saints later the same year.
Dibling has just joined Everton in a deal worth up to £40m and is regarded by some as a potential superstar.
But Terry is not the only one to believe that in Ngumoha, Chelsea lost a generational talent.
And the young man himself has big dreams.
“I truly believe I can win the Ballon d’Or one day.
“I want to be regarded as one of the best players to ever play football and be a legend of the game.
“The love for football started when I was four or five, I was watching my brother, and I wanted to be like him.
“I was going to academies from a young age, and it was a big thing when so many clubs wanted to sign me.
“I have learned you have to be resilient and believe in yourself, you can have a few bad games, but you have to have that belief that you are the best.”
What Ngumoha did on Monday night at St James’ Park was the first step to fulfilling those dreams.
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