Chelsea FC have amassed some of the best young football talent in the world, but potential and promise don’t win football matches.
According to midfielder Romeo Lavia, the squad’s steely mentality has enabled the youngest side in Premier League history to achieve its goals during a revelatory 2024/25 campaign. Under first-year head coach Enzo Maresca, the baby-like Blues overcame mid-season growing pains to qualify for the UEFA Champions League and win the UEFA Conference League title.
“We call it tunnel vision, because we just focus on ourselves,” Lavia explained. “Because if you listen to the noise, what comes out a lot is that we’re a young team, really inexperienced etc, [but] we know we have the quality because we see each other every day. It’s just about having that belief and focusing on ourselves and knowing that we’ll be good.”
Centre-back Tosin Adarabioyo believes maintaining that laser focus in training has fuelled the team’s rapid maturation.
“Just pushing on every day, I think,” Adarabioyo said. “Training sessions every single day have been at a high level. We are a mature bunch of boys and performed at a high level throughout the season. We managed to hit our objectives.”
Chelsea have a new target in their sights. The club that has won every piece of silverware on offer in European football very much wants to add the FIFA Club World Cup™ to its trophy cabinet.
The two-time Champions League winners are embracing the unique opportunity and challenges of this historic global showpiece, starting with a Group D that comprises three opponents from different continents.
Chelsea kick off the Club World Cup on Monday at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium against Los Angeles Football Club, the 2022 Major League Soccer champion who feature former Blues striker Olivier Giroud. Then they will travel north to Philadelphia’s Lincoln Financial Field to face 2022 Copa Libertadores winners CR Flamengo on 20 June and four-time CAF Champions League victors Espérance on 24 June.
“There’s obviously a lot of strong teams in the competition, [Paris Saint-Germain] being one of them, Champions League winners, and then you’ve got other huge clubs at the competition as well, “It’s tournament football, so you never know what can happen,” Adarabioyo said. “But it’s tournament football, so anything can happen.”
Lavia cited Chelsea’s “passion” and “heart” as driving forces behind their Club World Cup aspirations. “I think we’re just all competitors, so we want to go and win and make history, because it’s not something that happens all the time,” he said.
Inspiring the Blues’ renaissance has been Maresca, who joined Chelsea from Leicester City a year ago. The 45-year-old Italian has formed the type of connection and created the level of trust that ensure progress.
“It’s been fantastic,” Adarabioyo said of playing for Maresca. “Obviously, he’s implemented his philosophy into the club and into the team which we’ve all bought into, and as you can see we’ve had some fantastic results and we managed to hit all our achievements for last season… He is a young manager but he’s able to do incredible things for us.”
“So far it’s been a pleasure,” Lavia added. “He’s an ex-footballer, so I think his main quality is that he understands the players and how they feel sometimes depending on the situation.”
Adarabioyo said he had “nothing in particular” in mind about seeking new experiences in America, such as sampling the famed Philadelphia cheesesteak sandwiches. He does, however, want to meet some of the States-side Chelsea supporters.
“I just want to be able to interact with the fans,” he said. “I especially know that the sport is growing hugely in America. So to be able to get out there in front of the fans will be fantastic.”
