A tall and devastatingly clinical finisher, Dominic Solanke is a Mourinho type of forward through and through. The timing of his runs is outstanding, he's been bagging goals in abundance at youth team level - including the two which won the Youth Cup for Chelsea last season - and has already made his first team debut, albeit on in pre-season friendlies earlier this year. The scariest part? He's only 16. Make no mistake, Solanke is an enormous prospect and, judging by several interviews he has given since his rise to relative prominence, seems to have a good head on his shoulders, having frequently expressed his willingness to work hard and earn his way into the team on merit. Naturally he's not the finished product yet, needing to tidy up his build-up play and certain aspects of his technical skills, while he remains untested in competitive matches. It's also perhaps hardest for strikers to break through into world class teams since goal return is so important and it can take time before a youngster adapts to the best ways of breaking down top level defences. Fingers crossed, then, that Mourinho assigns Didier Drogba to tutor him as soon as possible as the Ivorian seems the ideal role model for the young Englishman's game. He is one of three young players in Chelsea's youth ranks whom Mourinho has marked out as future England internationals, so he certainly already has the confidence of his manager. Now he just has to make good on that faith.
28-year old English writer with a borderline obsessive passion for films, videogames, Chelsea FC, incomprehensible words and indefensible puns. Follow me on Twitter if you like infrequent outbursts of absolute drivel.
