YPT - Will's journal

Jose Mourinho is waiting for a return on Roman Abramovich's investment in Chelsea's academy so he can match Arsenal in producing the sort of young players his side will meet in Sunday's League Cup final.

Arsene Wenger's team have reached the final in Cardiff without the help of established players such as captain Thierry Henry but with Armand Traore, Denilson and Theo Walcott."

As the first team manager, I'm waiting for the work they do in the youth department. I'm waiting for the final product," Mourinho said after a coaching session at the

club's Cobham training ground.

The Portuguese manager, whose team is depleted by injury but who does not have the reserves of top youngsters to call on, said he was pleased with the work being done at youth level at Chelsea.

"I'm satisfied because it was very, very, bad before. In this moment we have very good coaches."

Abramovich bought the club in 2003 when there was little youth structure and has spent 30 million pounds ($58.67 million) on training facilities and staff to establish the academy. Chelsea say they now have 11 England internationals at under-21 or younger and several very promising 16 and 17-year-olds.

But they have yet to catch up with Arsenal in the more developed age group.

Mourinho, who did not sign new players in the January transfer window because of Russian billionaire Abramovich's desire to cut back on expensive imports and promote home-grown talent, praised Wenger's success.

"When you have such a long time in a club you can create conditions if you are a good manager like he is. I think their scouting of young players must be good, especially abroad. He is good coach. He works well with young boys."

WIDER REMIT

Chelsea have employed Danish coach Frank Arnesen as chief scout since 2005 and newspapers were full last month of stories of tension between him and Mourinho over their roles.

Wenger has a wider remit, covering youth teams as well as the top squad. Most of his youngsters are imported.

"It's a different job. This is my job and I am dedicated to it but to be fair my communication with the reserve team and reserve team coaches is ... great," Mourinho said.

"It's not easy to bring young players up to Chelsea's level."

Chelsea's target is for one home-grown player to reach the first team by 2010 and one a year thereafter.

Mourinho has used three young players, Nigeria's John Obi Mikel, 19, Ivory Coast striker Salomon Kalou, 21 and French under-21 midfielder Lassana Diarra extensively this season but they were all relatively expensive foreign signings.

Israeli 17-year-old Ben Sahar, who played his first full international earlier this month and 16-year-old Michael Woods, bought from Leeds, have played cameo roles, coming on when games were in the bag.

"For next season I think Ben is ready to come up and be in the first team," Mourinho said.

"What we did for Ben we should do with a central defender," he added, lamenting injuries to captain John Terry and Dutch international Khalid Boulahrouz which meant Chelsea would have to play midfielder Michael Essien in defence on Sunday.

He said Diarra, who arrived from Le Havre in the 2005 close season, had now established himself in the first team. He played right back at Porto in the 1-1 Champions League draw and was likely to start on Sunday.

Maybe, Mourinho suggested, it was better to wait some time for the call-up and then become a regular rather then make sporadic appearances like some of the Arsenal youngsters do.

Source: SReuters UK