Graham Potter calls Aaron Connolly a “determined little so-and-so”.

He still recalls the first taste he had of that trait this summer.

Connolly told the new head coach that, at 19, he would rather fight for a Premier League place with Albion than go out on loan.

Potter gave him chance to show what he could do among the senior players in training.

He has not been away since – and, with Steven Alzate, has become Exhibit A in the debate about giving players their chance to shine at a young age.

It was a debate which resurfaced this week when Albion fielded their youngest team ever during the Carabao Cup defeat by Aston Villa.

Such is Connolly’s first team role now, he played in midweek because he needed game time.

And he was taken off after an hour because he didn’t need too much.

It was after that game, in which he caused Villa a few problems, that he revealed his pre-season meeting with his new boss “I remember it,” Potter said.

“It was early pre-season and he indicated he at least wanted an opportunity to train and see where he was at.

“After that point, if it was looking like there was no chance of game time, then of course he is a young player who needs some adult football at that point.

“He is a young player who had played in the 23s for a couple of years.

“He is a determined little so-and-so.

“He wants to play and he wants to run in behind defenders and he wants to score goals and they are nice qualities to have.

“A lot of players want to come towards the ball and have the ball to feet.

“He wants to attack the space behind.

“From a defensive perspective, you are always on your guard because you don’t want to be running towards your own goal.

“In pretty much all the games he has played, he has had chances, had opportunities and got in behind people and that is not so easy to do.”

Potter is aware his line-up against Villa did not please everyone.

But, quite apart from the fact he had few selection options on this occasion, he remains committed to youth development.

He said: “You can’t please everybody. If we want to, as a club, just focus on the first team then maybe we don’t invest in the academy and put all our resources into a 25-man squad of first team players and that is what it is.

“On the other hand, there are others who will say, ‘Actually I quite like having Aaron Connolly coming through, I quite like having Steven Alzate coming through and playing, I like to see young players getting opportunities to play’.

“Okay, then we have to invest in that and have pathways for that and opportunities for that.

“If you can give me a way to do it which is any easier, I’m all ears.”

Potter pointed out that, a year ago, he gave the unheralded Daniel James a chance to play for Swansea in the Carabao Cup.

He added: “Dan’s rise was down to him.

“It’s down to the players, of course.

“I suppose the point I was making was that, when you talk about developing players, unless you want that one who is going to come and smack you in the face and say ‘I’m a Premier League player’, you have to give players opportunities.

“That is the trick. Most of the time these guys have come from the under-23s or loans and it is hard to make the jump from what they have done to what they potentially could do.

“It is easy in football to write people off because they are young.

“But all of us sat in this room are doing what we are doing because there was a pathway.”

Haydon Roberts was among those to stand out against Aston Villa but Potter, while suitably impressed, said the 17-year-old central defender was not in his plans for Stamford Bridge today, despite the absence of Shane Duffy, Leon Balogun and Bernardo.