However, many knee injuries meant that he was never able to justify the club's faith in him.
Speaking to Rising Ballers' Perspectives podcast, he explained: "Unfortunately there's a lot of players who you see at younger ages, who just don't go on to fulfill their potential.
"But to give an example, I think the one I would quote would be Charly Musonda, the Belgian boy who came to Chelsea at 15/16.
"Attacking midfield player, winger, fantastic touch, great movement. He was quick, he would send players both ways, he could take defenders both sides, he could score goals, he could make goals. As talented as anybody I've seen at that age.
"He played for Chelsea's first-team, made his cup debut against Nottingham Forest I think in the FA Cup, scored I think as well in a game we won 5-1 from memory.
"Then he got a very bad injury. He went out on loan to a couple of places that just didn't work and he was out for a long time with an injury.
"He's still playing now, my guess will be he'd be about 26 now, Charly's playing in Cyprus I think. But in terms of sheer ability, he was as good as anybody I've seen at that age."