John Terry believes the opportunities are there for the Chelsea youngsters now.

As with every season, the debate rumbles on over the players that have come from our Academy being given a chance in the first team. John Terry believes that there ARE opportunities to do that at Chelsea now.

It's a debate that will continue to be had amongst the Chelsea fans, in pubs and clubs up and down the country. Almost everyone has an opinion on our loan policy (as we farm off over 30+ players out to other clubs in recent seasons) whether it is good thing for the development of young players or if it just re-iterates that hardly any will actually make it into the first team but will be sold. Not until one of those players follows in the footsteps of JT to break through into the first team, to become a regular starter week-in, week out will it ever stop.

So to the man himself and he has given his take on how he believes Roman Abramovich wants to move forward and of the chances these players now have at Chelsea. He said:

“Ideally you want them to come back.

The Chelsea fans want that, I think Roman wants that ideally.

If that’s not the case and the Chelsea youngsters are not good enough, not performing enough to come through, then we have the capability of going out to buy big players.

The opportunities are there for sure.

We’re seeing that with [Nathaniel] Chalobah, [Ruben] Loftus-Cheek, [Nathan] Ake’s just come back, Ola Aina as well, Charly Musonda’s just come back off loan as well.

The boys are there, now it’s just about giving them opportunities" - Source: Daily Star.

I think the last thing he has said above there is key, it's about giving them opportunities and to his credit, Antonio Conte has done exactly that this season. RLC and Nathaniel Chalobah in particular have been introduced to the Premier League on a consistent basis this season which is good to see.

However, those appearances have been late in games when we have the game won and are in control so the argument people will have will be why not give these guys a start?

Now I am all for introducing the youngsters and bringing these players through 100% but it's important to remember that the pressures of the game have changed with all the monies and financial rewards available in football. The Sky and BT Sport monies ploughed into the game have made a massive difference with Sky being the main orchestrator's of change to our game now.

Just look at the pressure there is to succeed as a big club and that of the so-called lesser sides to stay in the Premier League! Look at the money Bournemouth spent in the summer but to then come in at the end of last months transfer deadline to be prepared to go again and spend £18m on Nathan Ake is something we have never ever seen before.

It will be so interesting to see what happens to the Chelsea squad this summer as we prepare ourselves to get back into the Champions League (finger crossed). With the likes of Andreas Christensen coming back in addition to the player JT has already mentioned, I wonder if it will look very, very different as we kick of the start of the new season.