Antonio Conte and Chelsea's youngsters

Antonio Conte’s lack of faith in youngsters has disappointed 

Chelsea (Picture: Getty)

Chelsea‘s hierarchy are reportedly disappointed

that manager Antonio Conte has not integrated 

as many as young players into his first-team 

as initially expected when he agreed to the 

terms of the job.

The Italian tactician showed some willingness 

to bring back players who’d been out in the

 wilderness on loan last season, making Victor

 Moses a key player and giving more game

 time to the likes of Nathan Ake and 

Nathaniel Chalobah.

Conte, meanwhile, has gone down the path 

of many of his predecessors in prioritising 

spending big money on established names, 

targeting many reportedly deemed too old

 by Chelsea’s top brass.However, the latter

 two have since been sold this summer, 

while other highly-rated talents such as 

Tammy Abraham, Kurt Zouma and Ruben 

Loftus-Cheek have all gone out on loan.

Conte’s side have had a tough start to the season (Picture: Getty)

As well as friction over transfers, Chelsea are 

also said to be disappointed that Conte has 

not fulfilled one key area of his job description

 in doing more to blood youngsters and provide 

a pathway to the first-team for players in 

the club’s academy, according to The Times.

Chelsea have invested greatly in their academy

 in recent years, but few of their players

 have made the grade in a Blue shirt, despite

 going on to impress elsewhere.

Although not homegrown products, youngsters

 such as Romelu Lukaku and Kevin De Bruyne

 were also let go early on in their careers and

 have since made big-money moves to Premier

 League rivals, becoming hugely influential for

 Manchester United and City, respectively.

Nathaniel Chalobah was an academy talent let go by Chelsea this summer (Picture: Getty)

Nathan Ake was also allowed to leave despite showing promise (Picture: Getty)

Chelsea 2017/18 Fixtures

Tottenham (A) – Sat Aug 20
Everton (H) – Sun Aug 27
Leicester City (A) – Sat Sep 9
Arsenal (H) – Sun Sep 17
Stoke City (A) – Sat Sep 23

Chelsea’s large number of player sales this summer

 also left them worryingly short of depth and quality

 on the opening day of the season in their shock

 3-2 home defeat at the hands of Burnley.