Chelsea defender Fikayo Tomori has revealed that he used John Terry's passage into the first team as "motivation" to do the same.
Terry is perhaps the most notable graduate of Chelsea's academy in recent years, having joined the club as a youngster in 1995 and left 22 years later with 717 first-team appearances under his belt.
New signings were often preferred to promoting young players during Terry's time at the club, but this season manager Frank Lampard has handed chances to the likes of Tomori, Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount and Reece James.
Tomori has made 22 appearances himself, earning a maiden England call-up in the process, and he identified Terry as the standard-bearer for all players in the academy.
"Obviously we had John Terry who had made that step from the academy and he was the player I looked at when thinking of the pathway to the first team," he told BT Sport.
"The club has really developed since he broke in to where we are now, with a lot of academy players involved. In recent years we have seen a lot of players get close to that level but probably not have a sustained run in the side like the younger players have had this season.
"So JT was the one we looked at as the inspiration that we could get a chance here at Chelsea, and that was always the motivation."
Terry won 17 trophies during his time with Chelsea, including five Premier League titles and the 2012 Champions League. body check tags ::
