Branislav Ivanovic confident Ruben Loftus-Cheek is first of many Chelsea starlets ready to make the grade

Rising stars: Ivanovic is confident many more will follow Loftus-Cheek's lead

Branislav Ivanovic insists Chelsea have plenty more kids capable of following Ruben Loftus-Cheek into Jose Mourinho’s starting eleven.
Chelsea’s record of producing their own is so poor in recent years that John Terry, who made his debut in 1998, remains the last academy graduate to become an established first teamer.
But the Blues believe they have a crop of kids at the club with the ability to end the drought.
Mourinho handed one of them, England under-19 midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek, 19, his first Premier League start in Sunday’s draw against Liverpool.
After his 60 minute full debut Mourinho insisted “he will be a Chelsea player” and added: “We have other kids I also believe can perfectly do it.”
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Defender Ivanovic said: “We have a great generation of young players. They improve during training with us and they can be competitive in the team.
“They can make our squad bigger and in the future we can really think about them. It's great.
“They can be good. It's not just Ruben. We have a minimum of five-six players who can be in our squad and it is great for the manager to give them a chance to play.
“Dominic Solanke, Izzy Brown, Andreas Christensen, Nathan Ake - the guys who are already with us and they showed the can play in training.”
The daunting challenge facing them is getting into the Chelsea team and proving they are good enough to stay there.
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Ivanovic said: “In the next couple of games they will get a chance. It's a great motivation for them. They're still young, they need to fight.
“This is the period, the next one or two years, where they need to prove they are really good.”
The dilemma, especially for the big clubs, is balancing the need for instant success and importance of being in the Champions League with developing young talent.
Ivanovic said: “It's the most difficult thing to find that balance because we are a team that want to win.
“But when we have the chance to give young players to play and grow as players with us it's great. It's important for us next season to have a bigger squad.”

Ian Walton