Chelsea chief Peter Kenyon insists the club is committed to bringing through more English players.

"Chelsea is still committed to having an English/home-grown core to our team supplemented by the best global talent," he told the Chelsea website. “That has always been our policy. There is no doubt that Deco and Bosingwa come into that latter bracket and will move our squad forward. We discussed this general issue with Felipe and he agrees with us.

"The exact number of English players will inevitably go up and down on a cyclical basis, that is why it is important that our Academy produces home-grown players for the first team."