Eight players from our Academy have made their senior Chelsea debut since Maresca took over as head coach at the start of last season, and the Italian has not ruled out adding to that number in the near future.

Attention is constantly being kept on the players coming through the age ranks at Cobham, especially given our Under-21s’ flying start to the season with three wins out of three in the Premier League 2.

Two of the attacking players who have impressed in the early weeks of our Academy campaign, as well as on international duty with England over the last week, are PL2 Player of the Month Shumaira Mheuka and Ryan Kavuma-McQueen.

And both are on the radar of the Blues head coach, who outlined their qualities in his pre-match press conference ahead of our Premier League trip to Brentford.

'They are both in my plans, for sure,' said Maresca. 'Shimmy was already with us and played some games last year –  he even played some minutes in the Premier League.

'Ryan, for me, is more of a winger. He scored four goals against Germany [in England Under-17s’ 7-5 away win]; I even watched that game.

'I was very impressed, but I already knew him because we have one of my staff always watching the second team (Under-21s) since last year. They told me that this guy was very good, so I watched him. I think he's good.'

Another player from our Academy who has caught Maresca’s eye is Reggie Walsh, who was handed his senior debut last season in the first leg of our UEFA Conference League semi-final at Djurgarden while still a schoolboy. A first start followed in the return leg at Stamford Bridge

Walsh, who turns 17 next month, has played every minute of our Under-21s’ Premier League 2 campaign so far this season, and Maresca explained why he has been so impressed by the teenager.

He said: ‘I like Reggie because he is doing things that I am demanding from the other players, but he is doing those things without me asking him to do them.

'So I don’t need to ask him to do something; what he is doing already is what I want from that player. That’s why I love Reggie.'