Thursday 21 July 2016 22:31, UK
Chelsea sent as many as 35 players on loan last season and look set to send many of their young stars out again ahead of the new campaign.
Their academy is one of the country's most successful - Chelsea retained their UEFA Youth League title in April before winning a third consecutive FA Youth Cup a week later - and the club boasts a deep pool of U21 talent.
With competition for a first-team place intense, however, many look elsewhere for regular football.
Ahead of the upcoming season, 10 Chelsea youngsters have already departed on loan to locations as varied as Brazil, Germany and the Netherlands. We take a look at their prospects…
The Dutch-born defender was named Watford's Young Player of the Year after a successful campaign at Vicarage Road last season, earning a place as Quique Sanchez Flores' first-choice left-back.
Chelsea rate him highly and he is under contract until 2020, but opportunities at Stamford Bridge remain limited and in March he summed up his predicament.
"Of course I would like to return to play for Chelsea," he told the official KNVB website. "But it is important for a player of my age to get regular playing time."
Antonio Conte clearly agreed and a move to Eddie Howe's Bournemouth looks a good fit.
Christensen was one of the big success stories last season, starring for Borussia Monchengladbach in the same Champions League group as Manchester City and Juventus and ending the season as the club's Player of the Year.
The defender is midway through his two-year loan stint but Monchengladbach are keen to make his move permanent and had a £14.25m offer turned down by Chelsea, on Tuesday. Despite the rejection, Christensen's loan will continue with talks over a transfer shelved until the winter.
Christensen averaged fewer fouls-per-game than any other Bundesliga centre-back and more interceptions-per-game than either Jerome Boateng and Mats Hummels. No wonder his Denmark coach Age Hareide compared him to Franz Beckenbauer.
Lewis Baker is to spend a second season on loan with Dutch club Vitesse Arnhem after impressing with five goals in 34 appearances last term. The attacking midfielder is yet to make a senior start for the Blues but is highly thought of and says he had offers from elsewhere before opting for Vitesse.
"There was interest from several other clubs last summer but, together with my family and Chelsea, I have discussed the options and we all believed that another year was the best option," he said.
Baker also starred for England when they won the Toulon Tournament earlier this summer.
The future looked bright when Kalas stepped in for John Terry to make an assured Premier League debut at Anfield in April 2014. But things have not gone to plan since and the 23-year-old Czech Republic international has joined Fulham for the upcoming campaign, his fifth different loan club since signing for Chelsea six years ago.
The Brazil youth international has struggled for game time since joining Chelsea in 2013, spending time on loan at Fluminense, Inter Milan, Carpi and most recently Gremio. The attacking right-back is part-way through an 18-month deal with the Brazilian club that ends next summer, but has been restricted to just nine appearances so far.
Boga was primarily an option from the bench for Ligue 1 side Rennes last season, making 21 of his 27 league appearances as a substitute. The teenage attacker still attracted plenty of interest in Spain, though, and has joined Granada on a season-long loan.
Musonda is another Chelsea youngster who will spend the year in Spain after he had an initial six-month loan to Real Betis extended until the end of the 2016/17 campaign. He's happy at the club, where he scored once in 19 appearances from January onwards, saying recently: "Playing in a La Liga team is very good and Betis is the perfect team."
Nathan was immediately loaned to Vitesse after signing for Chelsea last July, but it took him a while to get acclimated and he only made four Eredivisie starts in all. In February, Chelsea assistant first-team coach Eddie Newton voiced concerns over playing time, but those fears seem to have been allayed because Nathan will spend another season at the Dutch club.
Beeney's loan spell at Newport County last season came to an abrupt end after four Sky Bet League Two starts, but he'll stay in the division with Crawley Town until January 3. The goalkeeper, 20, faces stiff competition for a spot in the Chelsea first-team, with Thibaut Courtois, Asmir Begovic, Jamal Blackman and Matej Delac ahead of him in the pecking order.
Kiwomya signed a new one-year deal with Chelsea on July 1, keeping him at the club until June 2017, but he's yet to make a senior appearance for the Blues. He's hoping it will be third time lucky at Crewe after disappointing stints at Barnsley and Fleetwood Town, saying: "My previous loans were really good experiences, but it was difficult situations at both clubs and they didn't go as well as planned being only short term. Hopefully having a longer period [at Crewe] to adjust and get used to the team should benefit me." He will remain with the Sky Bet League Two club until January 9.
