Mourinho defends youth record at Chelsea

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has dismissed suggestions that he does not use young players in his starting line-ups, highlighting Ruben Loftus-Cheek as a top prospect who has broken through under his guardianship.

Despite the Blues having huge numbers of young players under contract in recent years, many of whom have spent periods elsewhere on loan before being sold, John Terry, now 34, remains the last academy graduate to go on to win a regular place at Stamford Bridge.

But the Portuguese boss used numbers to show that he was more open to new blood than critics suggested.

“I have quite impressive numbers for a club of our dimension. So we have in the first team squad, seven players under 21," he told reporters.

“We have of these seven players in the Premier League, Champions League and Capital One Cup.

"We have 26 starts, 12 substitute appearances and we have 43 on the bench and not used. We have 26 starts with U21 players."

Loftus-Cheek has accounted for three of those starts, but Mourinho is determined to keep the teenager at Stamford Bridge instead of loaning him out.

"Ruben is one of the young players getting opportunities," he explained.

"He is a very talented player, no doubts about it. With ups and downs in his evolution.

"But he is getting chances that not many players at his age get in big clubs, because it’s easier to get chances in smaller clubs.