Mourinho isn’t always one to be associated with promoting youth and he didn’t quite get this prediction right either.
“My conscience tells me that if, for example, Baker, Brown, and Solanke are not national team players in a few years, I should blame myself,” Jose Mourinho said on Chelsea’s pre-season tour back in 2015.
“They are part of a process the club started without me. At this moment, we have players who will be Chelsea players. And when they become Chelsea players, they will become England players, almost for sure.”
Since then, the trio have not quite gotten the success Jose imagined for them:
Lewis Baker
Back then, Baker had been crowned Young Player of the Year and already made a first-team appearance.
Since Mourinho’s comments, the midfielder has been out on loan 6 times – currently playing for Trabzonspor in Turkey.
Baker has a contract with Chelsea till 2022 but doesn’t look like he’ll become a full-time Blues or England player in the future.
Izzy Brown
Brown had already made a Premier League appearance aged 16 for West Brom before he signed for Chelsea.
The youngster has been on 7 loans since 2015 – with his latest one at Sheffield Wednesday ending in January 2021.
Now in the Chelsea U-23s squad, Brown’s injury struggles are likely to deny him an international future.
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