Jose Mourinho On Chelsea's Academy: Produce Or Close

While developing youngsters may be a more sustainable approach for clubs in general, Jose Mourinho still believes that academies should serve their purpose of producing players; otherwise, they might as well shut down.

The imposition of the rules on Financial Fair Play prompted clubs like Chelsea and Manchester City, who heavily relies on the transfer market, to invest on their facilities that cater to youngsters. But Portuguese manager, who was joined by Blues academy product Ruben Loftus-Cheek on media day, gave an early caveat, stating that stability on the part of management is also as essential for a program to become effective.

"If you don't bring kids through the academy, the best thing is to close the academy," said Mourinho.

"If the kids are not good enough or the work not good enough and you don't bring kids up, then close the door and use the money to buy players."

"You need to prove the academy works well and is worth it. It's only possible if the first-team manager stays for a long time, which in this club, in the last 10 years, was not possible. Now I'm trying to format Ruben and other Rubens in relation to my ideas, to his position."

"Imagine next week if there's a different first-team manager with different ideas. Some product, almost an added product, becomes an empty product and you start everything again. In this moment, the relation between the first-team and the academy is changing based on this stability that, at this moment, we are having."

"The first time Ruben trained with me was 18 months ago. In the last two or three weeks, he's been training with me every day. So, in 18 months, I think he remembers every word or feedback he's had in first-team development. This stability is important. The people in the academy feel they are working for something."

The west London outfit will face Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League on Thursday (AEST), and will be fielding in some youngsters as they are already assured of the top spot in Group G, regardless of the outcome.

To get the latest updates, follow IBTimes Sport on Twitter.