Chelsea academy graduates usually have a couple of well-trodden pathways – breakthrough, loan, first team; or breakthrough, loan, sale.
The Blues have sold on more than 40 homegrown players in the past decade, and have made £315m from selling academy-developed talent in the last four seasons alone – £100m more than Manchester City.
But their latest high-profile prospect Tyrique George has bucked that trend so far and can look at Levi Colwill, Trevoh Chalobah and Reece James showing the way to first-team success.
George’s strike against Fulham on 20 April, aged 19 years and 75 days, saw him become Chelsea’s youngest goalscorer in the Premier League since Callum Hudson-Odoi netted against Burnley in January 2020.
The winger’s breakthrough season has included Carabao Cup games against Barrow and Morecambe, substitute league appearances against Arsenal and Brighton, and almost 600 minutes in 10 Conference League games, including a goal in the quarter-final first leg win at Legia Warsaw.
He looks well placed to start away at Djurgarden in the Conference League semi-final on Thursday – and could add to his growing reputation.
George, who turned 19 in February, is disrupting that typical ‘Chelsea’ narrative thanks to a level of dedication unusual even in this era of academised youth development.
In fact, the last Chelsea player to come through the youth system into the first team without a loan was Hudson-Odoi, in January 2018 – a player George grew up idolising.
A personal coach aged 10 and playing men at Power League
Tyrique George pictured with private coach David ‘Guru’ Sobers
George was promoted from the academy team to the first team on 19 December, six months after he and defender Josh Acheampong signed new deals in June 2024.
That decision to sign a three-year contract, plus an optional fourth year, raised eyebrows among multiple academy sources at Chelsea.
Internal talk was that he might get lost among £1bn of talent – including another summer influx of talented young forwards – signed since the change of ownership in 2022.
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca gave George a chance in pre-season and sources say the Italian’s backing helped keep him at Stamford Bridge.
And FootballTransfers.com says George’s rapid progress has seen his estimated transfer value increase from £2m in December to more than £10m now.
George was first spotted by Chelsea playing for TFA Totteridge FC in Whetstone.
He signed up through their development centre programme before becoming a fully fledged academy player at the age of eight – taking a picture with then-first team breakthrough stars Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Lewis Baker on his signing day.
However, a source told BBC Sport that in those early years, George was a ‘middling’ player in his age group until around the age of 10.
It was at that point George’s dad hired a goalkeeper as well as a personal coach, David ‘Guru’ Sobers, to raise his game alongside his work at Chelsea.
In midweek, George would train with Chelsea and then from the age of 13 on Fridays, he would play against men in nine-a-side matches at either Vauxhall or Nine Elms Power League in South London.
On Saturdays, he would train again and go through post-match analysis with Sobers from his Power League matches the evening before, before going back to Chelsea on Sunday to play.
“I used to spend hours travelling on public transport to do two-hour sessions, or longer, with Tyrique as I thought I could help him,” Sobers told BBC Sport.
“We would spend hours doing one-versus-one, technical work, shooting drills, and I enjoyed the fact that he would push himself so much. I’d be a ‘bad’ referee when he played against 18 year olds, so he would get kicked – but have to get up and win the ball back.
“We did tactics on his Friday session during these matches. I think it helped our young players, we also had guys now at Manchester City, West Ham and Reading, become fearless, especially when coming back to their own age group.”
George also trained for several years with Unique FA, an elite academy, but under the proviso that he would play with players a few years older than himself.
Sobers still works with George and added: “Ty became unfazed by anything but it was on him how relentless he was at repetition and doing the fundamentals.
“He was non-stop and we pushed him but he always wanted to work hard and we didn’t force him, it was all him wanting to be exceptional while staying humble.
“He already showed he had the mentality by facing men even when small for his age group. A late growth spurt was the missing piece of the puzzle.”
Sancho met George in 2017 at Goals five-a-side pitches in South London
During one of those South London games, George had a chance meeting with current Chelsea on loan winger Jadon Sancho, who was on the verge of joining Dortmund from Manchester City, in 2017.
George explained: “It was me and my dad going to training. We saw Sancho with his friends and, with Sancho back then, I used to watch his highlights.
“My dad told me to get a picture, I was all nervous, but got the picture.”
Sancho said earlier in the season: “Tyrique George has the world at his feet, top guy and such a humble human being. He deserves every bit of success coming his way.”
People close to George cite Sancho, Noni Madueke, Marc Cucurella and Tosin Adarabioyo as key influences over his early career at Stamford Bridge.
How does the future look for George?
Europe’s third-tier competition and domestic cup games helped George build experience before his Premier League debut in January.
He has now scored two goals, got four assists and made a total of 21 appearances across all competitions this season.
Speaking in December, George said: “The trust Enzo has in me gives me a great feeling. He knows me from training with him all season.”
Maresca had studied Chelsea, including the academy before joining, impressing in his interviews with the club of his knowledge of players. He will have known George racked up a combined 33 goals and assists last season while being nominated for goal of the season for a strike against Crystal Palace.
Those with knowledge of George’s journey say he has received additional encouragement behind the scenes since the change of ownership to the Boehly-Clearlake regime – with director of recruitment and talent Joe Shields cited as a key advocate behind-the-scenes.
George has also no doubt benefited from Mykhailo Mudryk’s absence – as he remains provisionally suspended – after allegedly failing a drugs test.
Fellow academy graduate Colwill said of George this month: “We know how good a player he is so to come in and score hopefully gives him that confidence boost and hopefully he keeps pushing to try to get into our side.
“He’s here because he is an amazing player, he is not here to sit on the bench, he is here to play.”
bbc.co.uk
