Chelsea academy hopeful John Swift initially joined fellow West London club Brentford on an emergency loan at the start of October, to provide cover as the Bees were going through a bit of an injury crisis in midfield (to which former Chelsea prospect Josh McEachran also contributed with a broken bone or two). Swifty grabbed his opportunity with both hands, and impressed enough to see the one-month deal extended to January. Now, he wants another extension, to the end of the season.

"I'd love to stay until the end of the season but it's not up to me. It's up to Chelsea and Brentford. I don't interact with that sort of stuff. I leave that to my agent, Chelsea and Brentford but I hope to keep on to the end of the season and push on and keep winning." "Chelsea are happy. Every player that goes out on loan wants to play. I can't see any reasons to go back and play 21s. I have a phone call from them every now and then so they keep in touch quite well." -John Swift; source: Get West London

Swifty, one of my favorite academy prospects, has started 12 of the last 14 league contests for the promotion hopefuls, contributing with 3 goals, several assists, great work rate, and plenty of quality play, in general. The 20-year-old recently made his England U21 debut as well.

Hopefully the second half of the season will go just as excellently as the first half. He may be a long-shot for the Chelsea first-team, but I, for one, am not giving up on that yet.