Chelsea's Loan Policy - Gourlay defends it - What do you think?

Image from this Daily Mail article

Chelsea currently have 26 players out on loan this season and many disagree or criticise our policy. Ron Gourlay has defended the clubs stance and I wonder what YOU the Chelsea fan thinks of it.

Many people outside of the club and the supporters heavily criticise Chelsea for the amount of players we send out on loan. The majority of people I speak to, not linked with Chelsea at all, do not see the point in youngsters coming here because let's face it, they have no or little chance of breaking through into our first team.

When questioned of the club's policy, Chelsea's chief executive Ron Gourlay has said:

"What people don't see is that it's a massive development piece. I'll give you two examples: (Kevin) De Bruyne and (Romelu) Lukaku.

They were both bought as strong potential future players. We knew they had enough pedigree. Both players were very much in our plans. It didn't work out and the opportunity arose to sell them. Best for the club and best for the players.

The loan system is not just a matter of saying, 'Okay, we'll see you in 12 months.' We've only loaned players out to teams that allow day-to-day communication by our management team. 

Within 30 minutes of a game finishing, every player reports into someone at the club. That's the reason that these players develop." 

I personally believe that the new FFP ruling has a massive part to play in all this. Gourlay speaks of De Bruyne and Lukaku for example and just look at the profit the club has made on them. Who would have thought just a couple of seasons later, the club would sell the two combined for £45m.

Chelsea fans really want to see someone come through the ranks as John Terry has, he is the benchmark for everyone at the Academy and the Club in general.

For now, I do agree that the best way for the players to develop is to gain regular first team football and to loan these players out makes sense.

In the situations such as Marko Marin, Victor Moses, Marco Van Ginkel and Fernando Torres, it was obvious they were not in the managers plans this term so sending them somewhere else also makes sense.

What do you people think? Do you agree with the policy the club has adopted for a few seasons now or do you beg to differ?