This year, Nathan Ake was the only youth player to have significant involvement with the first team, avoiding the deluge of loans that saw us send nearly two full teams out across Europe. The 18-year-old made a total of 6 appearances for the first team including 3 starts.

He has impressed Chelsea fans in the games where he has had an opportunity and it has been exciting to see a youth product given some exposure to the first team.

Ake breakthrough

After starring in last year’s FA Youth Cup, he combined this with his first team duties – one of the few bright spots of having Rafa in charge was his interest in the young Dutchman.

He made his way into his first squad in December for the Carling Cup game against Leeds and surprisingly remained on the bench as Chelsea trounced Villa 8-0 with Paulo Ferreira preferred.

He made his debut whilst only 17 coming off the bench as a late substitute away at Norwich on Boxing Day in what was a fleeting 30- second cameo as Chelsea looked to close down the game with a slender 1-0 lead.

He became a regular on the bench but was an unused substitute eight times before getting his next opportunity, starting the FA Cup game against Middlesborough.

Another month passed without any involvement at all and he spent that time playing in the Next Generation Series as Chelsea’s Youth made it to the final before losing to Aston Villa, and Ake looked a real star.

Ake then started against Rubin Kazan in April before returning to the bench and FA Youth Cup duty which saw him help the Blues to the Final’ however he was unable to play in the Final due to a need to remain fresh for a potential first team berth in the Europa League Final.

May was a busy month for Ake with another last minute cameo, this time at Old Trafford as we closed an important win in the race for the top four and 10 minutes against FC Basel as we secured our place in the Europa League Final.

Ake travelled to Amsterdam with the squad and was named on the bench, but did not feature as Benitez made no substitutions during the final.

Just four days later though, he made his first Premier League start in our dead rubber against Everton, capping his breakthrough season with an impressive performance.

Progress summary

In the youth team, he seemed a world ahead of his compatriots and on that evidence it is clear he earned his chance however fleeting in the first team.

Overall, we have not seen much of Ake in the first team, but the signs are good. He seems versatile, able to play in central defence, midfield and at left back.

Let’s hope next season he can get 10-15 first team games to show us what he really can do.

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