Jesse Yomtov

USA TODAY Sports

New York Red Bulls defender Matt Miazga could be sold to Chelsea, the reigning English Premier League champions, according to various media reports that surfaced Wednesday. The news was first reported byESPN FC.

Miazga is coming off a banner year, which saw him start 24 league games for the Red Bulls, star at the U-20 World Cup in New Zealand and make his first appearance for the senior national team.

While on the surface it's exciting to see a 20-year-old American moving on to a big club, Miazga appears to be walking into an extremely unfavorable situation.

Chelsea currently has 33 players out on loan.

Take Czech defender Tomas Kaláš, 22, for example. Since joining Chelsea in July 2010, he has played all of two Premier League games for his parent club, while going on loan five times in four different countries. Countless others have been sent on loan after loan, traversing Europe while never even getting a fair chance to earn a spot with the first team.

Is that healthy for a player’s development? Is that healthy for any human being?

Chelsea has a perfect business model. The club brings in boatloads of promising young talent, throws it against the wall and hey, maybe some sticks. If the young players don’t become good enough to feature for Chelsea, chances are other clubs will gladly take them. Chelsea (at the very least) recoups the original investment and it's like the whole thing never happened.

To be fair, this isn’t a situation unique to Chelsea. Plenty of clubs are guilty to a lesser extent, but the sheer number of players the London club has out on loan, year after year, never ceases to amaze.

Chelsea has been questioned for its unwillingness (or inability) to develop its own players since Roman Abramovich bought the club in 2003, instead using his bottomless pockets to go out and buy world-class talent. Say what you will about that strategy, but as long as the club stays within financial regulations and continues to win, there's no real reason for Chelsea to change the way it does things.

Still, it should scare young players off. Caught in this situation, they’re not only competing with peers, but with every shiny toy in the world that may catch the club’s eye. They should also consider the club’s wildly unstable managerial situation – 10 coaches since January 2009 – and how their individual standing will change any time the trigger-happy Abramovich decides he wants a new manager.

Beyond the crest, it’s hard to fathom what would possibly make this an appealing option for a young player.