After another successful year for the Chelsea Academy came to a close, we look back at all 10 senior Blues debuts given to players who have come through the ranks at Cobham in 2024.

The ultimate goal of our Academy is to develop footballers who can step up and cross the road at Cobham to the men's building and represent our senior team, and it was certainly mission accomplished in that respect in 2024.

No less than 10 players did so for the first time to make their senior debut in the last year - four last season and a further six already during the current campaign - including two who have since made the move permanent to become full-time members of Enzo Maresca's squad.

Here is a reminder all those Academy players who made their first senior Chelsea appearance in 2024, as well as a look back at when they made their debut...

Michael Golding

6 January 2024

The midfielder came on against Preston North End in the FA Cup third round in January, six years after joining the Blues from AFC Wimbledon. He contributed to a comfortable 4-0 victory in what would be his only senior appearance for the Blues, having departed to join Leicester City in the summer.

Leo Castledine

23 January 2024

Shortly after signing a new three-and-a-half-year contract, the Kingston-born midfielder was brought off the bench in the 6-1 Carabao Cup semi-final second leg victory over Middlesbrough in January, having been a prominent player for our youth team and Under-21 side since joining Chelsea four years earlier. He is spending the current season on loan in League One with Shrewsbury Town.

Jimi Tauriainen

28 February 2024

Tauriainen has been at Chelsea since the age of 16, when he arrived from his native Finland, and was named on the bench for the Carabao Cup final defeat to Liverpool in February. In our next game, an FA Cup fifth-round win against Leeds United, Tauriainen was introduced for his senior debut, and his Premier League debut followed from the bench against Tottenham Hotspur in May. The midfielder is now recovering from a serious knee injury suffered during pre-season.

Josh Acheampong

2 May 2024

Versatile defender Acheampong also came on for the closing minutes of that derby win over Tottenham in May, the climax of a Chelsea journey that had begun when he joined our development centre programme as an Under-8. He has made three further appearances this season, including two starts in the UEFA Conference League, and was made a permanent member of the senior squad after signing a new contract in December.

Tyrique George

29 August 2024

Having been an unused substitute three times last season, the teenage winger became the first Academy player to make his senior debut in 2024/25 when he came off the bench in the second leg of our Conference League qualifying play-off against Servette in Geneva. George has made eight further appearances, including a first start in the 8-0 win over Noah, and joined Enzo Maresca’s squad full-time in December.

Samuel Rak-Sakyi

7 November 2024

Having been at Chelsea since the age of eight, Rak-Sakyi was handed his men's first-team debut as a 79th-minute substitute in a huge 8-0 win over Noah in the Conference League at Stamford Bridge. In the same competition in December, away against Astana, the midfielder made his first senior start. He has played four games so far this season in total, all of them in Europe.

Ato Ampah

12 December 2024

The winger joined the Blues from grassroots football at Under-11s level and was a key member of our Under-18s side before stepping up to the Under-21s for this season. His men's first-team debut came in December, when he replaced Pedro Neto at half-time during the 3-1 Conference League win away against Astana, that 45 minutes in Kazakhstan being Ampah’s only senior involvement so far.

Kiano Dyer

12 December 2024

Although he is still eligible for Under-18s football, Dyer had already been named on the bench for the men’s team several times last season, before being given his senior debut by Enzo Maresca. That came as a late substitute, as the midfield playmaker replaced Academy team-mate Rak-Sakyi in the away win against Astana in the Conference League.

Shumaira Mheuka

12 December 2024

Currently in his first campaign as a full-time player, after graduating from schoolboy football in the summer, Mheuka was another to make his senior debut in Kazakhstan. The 17-year-old striker came off the bench as a second-half substitute for another teenager, Marc Guiu, in the 3-1 win Conference League over Astana. In a sign of his impressive progress, Mheuka's senior debut came just four months after his first game at Under-21s level.

Harrison Murray-Campbell

19 December 2024

The defender was an unused substitute in last season’s FA Cup win over Leeds and again at Astana in this season’s Conference League. His senior debut then arrived in December, when he came on to take the place of Axel Disasi for the final half-an-hour of our last league stage match of the Conference League, beating Shamrock Rovers 5-1 at the Bridge.