The next fortnight may be littered with silverware for Chelsea though they are already celebrating their first trophy of the season, slipped in almost under the radar. The FA Youth Cup was won for the first time in 49 years with a pair of superbly executed second-half goals. The senior side will hope this is a sign of things to come.
Aston Villa can take great heart from their 3-2 aggregate defeat here but victory will be seen as significant given the focus placed on – and finance poured into – Chelsea's youth system. Carlo Ancelotti is due to meet the club's hierarchy this week for the latest round of discussions over summer transfer policy, though there has already been a shift in their approach.
Where once there were limitless funds to strengthen, the Italian has already emphasised his commitment to youth development by admitting last month that a quintet of youngsters – he singled out Jeffrey Bruma, Fabio Borini, Gaël Kakuta, Patrick van Aanholt and the 21-year-old Nemanja Matic – will be regulars in his match-day squads next term.
Only one of those five featured here. Bruma, the 18-year-old centre-half who has made two substitute appearances in the Premier League this season, planted a free header wide early on. There were better indications of his quality thereafter but Ancelotti will have been frustrated at the ease with which Kofi Poyser leapt above the centre-half to flick in Villa's opening goal just after the half-hour. Bruma is better than that.
Of those emerging from the academy set-up, the manager has similarly high hopes for Jacob Mellis, the 15-year-old Nathaniel Chalobah and Josh McEachran. The last, who has been training once a week with the first-team squad, will sign a professional contract at the end of the season. He was a blur of clever touches here, growing into the contest. The right-back, Billy Clifford, also impressed while Conor Clifford battered in a fine late winner.
They could yet become familiar names. Ancelotti intends to follow Arsène Wenger's approach to the Carling Cup next season, cramming his side with younger blood. The team that went out of that competition at Blackburn in this season's quarter-final included 11 full internationals, with five players over 30 and none younger than 22. Given that John Terry, in the stands tonight, was the last youth-team graduate to establish himself in the senior set-up at this club, the hope is that times are changing.
Roman Abramovich wants this to happen and his sporting director, Frank Arnesen, is aware of the need to cultivate players capable of making their mark in the Premier League given the investment made in youth team development in recent years. "It's not easy for the coach to bring players in [to the first team]," Arnesen said. "A club like Chelsea is all about winning. You can't have young players in the team and not be winning."
The implementation of the Premier League's Grow Your Own policy, by which eight homegrown players – registered with an English or Welsh club for at least three years before their 21st birthday – must be included in a 25-man squad to be declared on 1 September, will effectively force their hand. "It will give clubs an extra incentive to invest in youth," the Premier League's chief executive, Richard Scudamore, said. In that context the departures of such seniors as Juliano Belletti, Deco and Hilário are more understandable.
Villa, winners of this competition in 2002 when a team that included Liam Ridgwell and Steven Davis defeated Wayne Rooney's Everton, are already an academy success story. Ryan Simmonds drew a fine save from Sam Walker before Poyser's third goal of the cup run – superbly taken after Samir Carruthers' surge and Simmonds' cross – edged them ahead on aggregate. It was a finish of which Gabriel Agbonlahor would have been proud.
Martin O'Neill will have been encouraged by his team's poise and style. They benefited from Chelsea's profligacy, Jacopo Sala dragging a shot wide of the far post and Benjamin Siegrist doing well to tip Aziz Deen Conteh's attempt on to the woodwork, before Marko Mitrovic touched in the excellent Sala's centre to put Chelsea level. Victory, confirmed by Conor Clifford's long-range shot, was harsh on Villa but will have prompted relief of sorts for Arnesen. The Premier League and FA Cup will draw the focus for now but there is clearly promise to be had in this club's longer-term future.
Aston Villa can take great heart from their 3-2 aggregate defeat here but victory will be seen as significant given the focus placed on – and finance poured into – Chelsea's youth system. Carlo Ancelotti is due to meet the club's hierarchy this week for the latest round of discussions over summer transfer policy, though there has already been a shift in their approach.
Where once there were limitless funds to strengthen, the Italian has already emphasised his commitment to youth development by admitting last month that a quintet of youngsters – he singled out Jeffrey Bruma, Fabio Borini, Gaël Kakuta, Patrick van Aanholt and the 21-year-old Nemanja Matic – will be regulars in his match-day squads next term.
Only one of those five featured here. Bruma, the 18-year-old centre-half who has made two substitute appearances in the Premier League this season, planted a free header wide early on. There were better indications of his quality thereafter but Ancelotti will have been frustrated at the ease with which Kofi Poyser leapt above the centre-half to flick in Villa's opening goal just after the half-hour. Bruma is better than that.
Of those emerging from the academy set-up, the manager has similarly high hopes for Jacob Mellis, the 15-year-old Nathaniel Chalobah and Josh McEachran. The last, who has been training once a week with the first-team squad, will sign a professional contract at the end of the season. He was a blur of clever touches here, growing into the contest. The right-back, Billy Clifford, also impressed while Conor Clifford battered in a fine late winner.
They could yet become familiar names. Ancelotti intends to follow Arsène Wenger's approach to the Carling Cup next season, cramming his side with younger blood. The team that went out of that competition at Blackburn in this season's quarter-final included 11 full internationals, with five players over 30 and none younger than 22. Given that John Terry, in the stands tonight, was the last youth-team graduate to establish himself in the senior set-up at this club, the hope is that times are changing.
Roman Abramovich wants this to happen and his sporting director, Frank Arnesen, is aware of the need to cultivate players capable of making their mark in the Premier League given the investment made in youth team development in recent years. "It's not easy for the coach to bring players in [to the first team]," Arnesen said. "A club like Chelsea is all about winning. You can't have young players in the team and not be winning."
The implementation of the Premier League's Grow Your Own policy, by which eight homegrown players – registered with an English or Welsh club for at least three years before their 21st birthday – must be included in a 25-man squad to be declared on 1 September, will effectively force their hand. "It will give clubs an extra incentive to invest in youth," the Premier League's chief executive, Richard Scudamore, said. In that context the departures of such seniors as Juliano Belletti, Deco and Hilário are more understandable.
Villa, winners of this competition in 2002 when a team that included Liam Ridgwell and Steven Davis defeated Wayne Rooney's Everton, are already an academy success story. Ryan Simmonds drew a fine save from Sam Walker before Poyser's third goal of the cup run – superbly taken after Samir Carruthers' surge and Simmonds' cross – edged them ahead on aggregate. It was a finish of which Gabriel Agbonlahor would have been proud.
Martin O'Neill will have been encouraged by his team's poise and style. They benefited from Chelsea's profligacy, Jacopo Sala dragging a shot wide of the far post and Benjamin Siegrist doing well to tip Aziz Deen Conteh's attempt on to the woodwork, before Marko Mitrovic touched in the excellent Sala's centre to put Chelsea level. Victory, confirmed by Conor Clifford's long-range shot, was harsh on Villa but will have prompted relief of sorts for Arnesen. The Premier League and FA Cup will draw the focus for now but there is clearly promise to be had in this club's longer-term future.
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