\n Liam Rosenior has revealed Chelsea Academy duo Jesse Derry and Ryan Kavuma-McQueen will both travel with the senior squad for Saturday\u2019s FA Cup tie with Wrexham, while explaining why he sees it as so important to continue bringing young players through at Cobham.
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The cup competitions have long provided opportunities for young players and that has been the case again this season at Chelsea, with several teenagers from our Academy involved with the men\u2019s team during our FA Cup and League Cup campaigns.<\/p>\n
Next up, the Blues travel away to Wrexham in the fifth round of the FA Cup, and Rosenior has opened the door for more opportunities, with Derry and Kavuma-McQueen both travelling to Wales as part of his squad after impressing our head coach in training.<\/p>\n
Derry made his senior debut for Rosenior in the last round of this competition, coming on for Estevao Willian<\/a> for the final 15 minutes of the 4-0 win at Hull City, while Kavuma-McQueen was an unused substitute for the home victory over Ajax in the UEFA Champions League earlier in the season.<\/p>\n \u2018Ryan and Jesse will travel with the group, so they will be part of the squad for Wrexham,\u2019 said Rosenior, who is helped by having former Chelsea Under-21s head coach Calum McFarlane<\/a> as one of his assistants.<\/p>\n \u2018I\u2019m very fortunate to have Calum in our staff, who has an unbelievable understanding of the Academy, the players that are coming through. I want to develop players from within this Academy as well, so they\u2019ll be travelling with us.<\/p>\n \u2018Jesse\u2019s really impressed me, Ryan’s impressed, but it\u2019s not just those two. There have been a few that I\u2019ve got to see in training when they\u2019ve been brought up that I\u2019m really happy with.<\/p>\n \u2018Reggie Watson has trained with us a few times, he\u2019s really impressed me. It\u2019s scary the age that he is. Young Mahdi [Nicoll-Jazuli] has been up a few times, he\u2019s an outstanding talent as well.<\/p>\n \u2018There are some outstanding young players in the group. We just need to make sure we put them in at the right time and they get the experiences that they need to continue their development.\u2019<\/p>\n With several graduates from the Chelsea Academy already firmly established in his senior squad, it is clear that Rosenior knows the value of promoting young talent from within, meaning he keeps a close eye on the younger age groups.<\/p>\n \u2018I was at the FA Youth Cup game [against Manchester City], I\u2019ve seen a few of the Under-21s games, watched a lot of clips with Calum from his time before me with the group as well, to get to know the young players.<\/p>\n