The Blues have claimed several trophies at youth level during the 2025/26 season, most notably with our Under-21s finishing top of the Premier League 2 table, before the Under-18s followed up their Under-18 Premier League South title by defeating Manchester City in the National Final on Friday.

On top of their success at that level, there have also been a number of promising youngsters from our Academy training with and playing for our men’s side, adding further to the many senior debuts at Chelsea over the last two years.

Few people are as well placed to discuss the talent coming through at Chelsea as McFarlane, who started the season as Under-21s head coach before joining the men’s team coaching staff in January, and now taking on the role of interim head coach.

‘I don't think I need to sell our Cobham Academy,’ said McFarlane, when asked if he would be convincing incoming manager Alonso of the potential in our youth ranks. ‘It's one of the most world-renowned academies in the world.

‘I've been in academy football for 20 years, and I've always competed against Chelsea. For me, it's the best academy in the world. So I don't need to sell that, but I do have specific knowledge having worked with most of the players at the older age groups of this academy.

‘I think there's lots of really exciting talent. You saw that on Friday in the game against Manchester City. It was a great game between two of the best academies in the country.

‘But I think there are lots of players who can make the transition. They can make the jump. You just look at our captain Reece James, you look at Levi Colwill, you look at Trevoh Chalobah. These are players from Cobham.

‘It's world-renowned and I'm sure Xabi knows that. It's a massive appeal for coming to this club, the amount of talent we have in the younger age groups, and they train with us two or three times a week, so he'll be able to see them up close. I'm really hopeful some boys can make the jump.’

The number of senior debuts and opportunities given to Academy players, both before and after he joined the club, is clearly a source of pride for McFarlane after straddling the men’s and youth set-ups across his time with Chelsea.

‘I think last year was a unique year, being in the Conference League. And I don't think many clubs will make that many debuts in one season.

‘We’ve still had debuts this year with Jesse Derry and Ryan Kavuma-McQueen. Shimi's [Mheuka] had minutes in the first team, Mathis Eboue made the bench against Liverpool.

‘I haven't been at this club for very long, but you know it's part of the DNA. You know it's part of the club's culture. So that's never going to stop, especially when you have such talent and players that are ready to make the jump. It's just never going to stop at this club.’