Kids get a chance
ANT JOBS FOR BOYS
ANTONIO CONTE has told his Chelsea kids to prove they deserve a place in his team.
Conte is set to hand Blues bad boy Kenedy, 21, and highly rated forward Charly Musonda, 20, their first starts of the season against Nottingham Forest tonight. There will also be places in the squad for midfielders Kyle Scott, 19, and Ethan Ampadu, 17, as Chelsea kick off their Carabao Cup campaign at Stamford Bridge. More experienced youngsters like Nathaniel Chalobah and Nathan Ake quit the Blues this summer to go in search of more first-team football. But Conte is eager for his latest crop to use tonight’s tie to prove that they can gatecrash his starting XI on a regular basis – and help Chelsea defend the Premier League title. The Italian, who confirmed he will hand Eden Hazard his first start of the season, said: “If you are good enough to play with a great team, you play. “Every coach wants to win. I don’t care if one player is a young player or an old player. “If an old player, 36 years old, makes me happy and helps me to win, I pick him. It’s the same if a young player, 16 years old, helps me to win. I’m ready to do this also.
“Don’t forget that my first appearance in Serie A was when I was 16.
“I’m the first person to trust in the young players.”
It will be wing-back Kenedy’s first start since he was warned about his conduct by the FA, fined by the club and forced to apologise for ill-judged social media comments the Brazilian made during a pre-season tour of China.
Conte said: “For sure, he made a mistake. But I think that everyone in their life can make a mistake.
“He understood his mistake. Now he’s ready to play and to show he deserves a space for the future.”
Ampadu, a summer signing from Exeter, was playing in League Two last season but has earned a senior Wales call-up since being at Chelsea.
Conte said: “I don’t think that, if your national team calls you and you are 16, it puts pressure on you. You must be proud of this. But he has to work a lot to deserve another call-up.
Strong
“Ampadu is a young player but I think he has good quality.
“He has good prospects to become a Chelsea player. He’s strong physically, has good technique and personality.”
One player who found his path to the Chelsea first team blocked is Michael Mancienne, who is in line to start for Forest tonight.
Boss Mark Warburton applauded the defender, 29, for quitting Chelsea for Hamburg six years ago after making just two league starts for the Blues.
He said: “All credit to him, you can sit there and take the cash and see what comes up at the end of your contract.
“But Michael wanted to play and that’s how you learn. You learn by playing and he wants to win things with Forest.
“Sometimes you drive into somewhere like Cobham (Chelsea’s training ground) and those complexes are paradises. But if you are not playing football, it is a false paradise.”