FA Youth Cup Final preview: Manchester City v Chelsea

Tuesday 18 Apr 2017

Jody Morris remains the youngest player to represent Chelsea in the Premier League, but admits the team he grew up in would be no match for the one he is set to lead in The FA Youth Cup Final tonight.

So highly regarded was former central midfielder Morris as a teenager, he was named the club’s young player of the year in 1996-97 – the same season the Blues lifted the FA Cup.

He was capped by England at Under-21 level and won European honours before leaving Stamford Bridge, but returned to west London after hanging up his boots.

And tonight, Morris’s team will begin their quest to win The FA Youth Cup for a fourth successive season when they travel to Manchester City’s Academy Stadium for the first leg.

The 38-year-old admits the setup now is almost unrecognisable to the one he was part of.

Morris said: “Since I first came to Chelsea as a player, the club has come on leaps and bounds.

“There is so much help for the players and they have so many resources they can lean on to help them develop.

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“The level of player we are producing is always improving and I think this current side would wipe the floor with the youth team I was in.”

Chelsea have had the better of City in the competition in the Final in each of the last two seasons.

But Morris feels the current crop from Manchester are as strong a prospect as Chelsea have faced in recent times.

He added: “At the beginning of the season I thought that the team who could beat Manchester City could probably be the winners of the competition, and that will obviously now be the case if we can win this final.

“That is our challenge, to repeat what we did in the last two seasons, but City have been improving year in, year out and are a fantastic team.

“I must admit, they are a side I enjoy watching, they play the right way and have some outstanding talent, so we know this will be extremely tough for us.”

By FA Staff

Morris: This crop's far better than my team