The 3 Chelsea kids Mourinho tipped for stardom in 2014 & how they fared

During his second spell as Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho picked out three talented young players and tipped them for a bright future in the first team at Stamford Bridge and even for England.

“My conscience tells me that if, for example, Baker, Brown, and Solanke are not national team players in a few years, I should blame myself,” Mourinho said on Chelsea’s pre-season tour in 2014.

“They are part of a process the club started without me. At this moment, we have players who will be Chelsea players. And when they become Chelsea players, they will become England players, almost for sure.”

We’ve taken a look at how those three players have fared over the last eight years.

Baker was handed his first-team debut early in Mourinho’s second spell at the club, coming off the bench against Derby County in the FA Cup in January 2014.

The midfielder’s stunning strike against Arsenal Under-21s was voted Chelsea’s goal of the season in 2013-14, and he also won their Young Player of the Year award.

After a very brief spell at Sheffield Wednesday, he joined MK Dons in February 2015, playing alongside Dele Alli as they won promotion to the Championship.

Baker impressed throughout his two seasons on loan with Dutch side Vitesse Arnhem before returning to England with Middlesbrough, Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds and Reading.

During his time at Fortuna Dusseldorf in 2019-20, he made just nine appearances, scored a comical own goal and was accused of going AWOL by the manager.

In 2020-21 came an eighth loan spell away from Stamford Bridge with Baker joining up with former Blues coach Eddie Newton at Turkish side Trabzonspor.

Newton was sacked after just nine games, but Baker went to play 34 games in the Super Lig before returning to Chelsea.

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