Chelsea are renowned for their youth academy and the talent that has broken through in recent years with a number of current Premier League starters polishing their craft in the West London set-up.
Declan Rice, Marc Guehi, Mason Mount, Reece James, Conor Gallagher, Tariq Lamptey and Tammy Abraham all earned their start with the club and many named have become key players in the first team at Stamford Bridge.
The Blues have found themselves struggling in the Premier League this season with the side currently ninth in the table after a disappointing campaign over their first 22 outings, something Graham Potter will be keen to improve as soon as possible.
Many of the current squad are either out of contract in the summer or reaching the latter stages of their careers with Thiago Silva, Jorginho, N’Golo Kante, Cesar Azpilicueta, Kalidou Koulibaly and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang all well into their 30s at this point.
Who can take over from Thiago Silva when he retires?
As a result, Potter could look to the club’s youth setup to unearth some young talent that could start making their mark on the first team to ultimately replace the players who are not likely to be part of the long-term future of the club.
One academy ace who could be the perfect Silva successor is former U21s captain Bashir Humphreys who is currently on a six-month loan in Bundesliga 2 with Paderborn 07.
There is no doubt that when the 38-year-old centre-back does eventually leave Stamford Bridge he will leave a huge hole in the Chelsea defence and finding the right player to fill that position won’t be an easy task.
However, if Humphreys can continue to develop his craft whilst on loan and when he returns to Chelsea in the summer it could be the perfect opportunity for the teenage talent to impress Potter.
Who is Bashir Humphreys?
Over two league appearances so far, the 19-year-old rising star has successfully completed 100% of his dribbles and tallied up an 85% pass completion rate, as well as averaging 102.5 touches, 78 accurate passes, one interception, two clearances and 2.5 duels per game.
Before heading on loan, Humphreys had already begun to catch the attention of the Chelsea boss earning a senior debut in the FA Cup last month against Manchester City.
Not only that, the England U19s defender has earned six caps for his national team recently winning the European Championships with the youth side as part of the squad who beat Israel last summer, proving that he is not only valued at a club level but also on the international stage too.
With that being said, the future is looking bright for Humphreys and he is clearly showing signs that he could potentially become the next breakthrough star to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Mount and James.