If the addition of Danny Welbeck and impending arrival of Jordan Henderson underline that Chelsea have rowed back on their age-over-experience recruitment policy, then the Premier League club’s gamble on youth over the past four years was not a total bust.Sure, players came and went in quick time, while others have been loaned out or slipped into obscurity – all collateral damage from Chelsea’s stockpiling of youngsters from around the globe.Cole Palmer, bought for £40 million (around US$54 million) three years ago, aged 21, and now worth at least three times that amount, would be the stand-out example of the buy-them-young strategy bearing fruit.Then there is the case of Jorrel Hato, little known beyond Dutch shores when he signed a seven-year contract with Chelsea last year. The defender joined from Ajax, where he made his senior debut at 16 and captained the first team aged 17.Last season, Hato began nine of Chelsea’s closing 11 Premier League games, featured 22 times in the top flight in all, started four Champions League fixtures and played all 90 minutes of Chelsea’s 1-0 FA Cup final defeat by Manchester City in May.Jorrel Hato played all 90 minutes of Chelsea’s 1-0 FA Cup final defeat by Manchester City. Photo: Getty Images“No” is his succinct answer when asked whether he was surprised to have figured so prominently, albeit Hato acknowledged that his initial months in London “were not easy”.