Jack Cork knows first-hand how difficult it is to be a Chelsea academy star – but he may be giving the next generation a huge helping hand.
Cork is part of a Burnley set-up staging a tournament for elite youth academies worldwide, from the Blues to Borussia Dortmund.
Cork made 235 league appearances for Burnley over two spellsGettyThe club’s Under-21s assistant is involved in the Dude Perfect International Youth Cup, having presented the trophies for the last two years.
The one-time England player only returned to Turf Moor in October, five months after his contract with the senior side had expired.
Cork was an unused substitute under former Burnley boss Vincent Kompany on the final game of the Premier League 2023/24 season, with the club’s relegation already long-since confirmed.
Ironically, the 35-year-old is now back in the dugout, developing academy talent to assist Kompany’s successor, Scott Parker.
Tommy McDermott, Tom Tweedy, Charlie Veevers, and Joe Bauress have all been around the first-team picture this term – the latter even claiming the club’s man of the match award on his first senior start, a 3-1 FA Cup win away at Reading in January.
In an exclusive interview with talkSPORT.com, Cork explained: “It was strange because the manager had called me in the office and wanted my opinion on the lads.
“For me to say, these lads are brilliant and they work hard and you can trust them, was a strange thing for me to have to do.”
One of the next academy players Burnley and Cork have high hopes for is Joao Mendes, the son of Brazilian legend Ronaldinho.
The 20-year-old swapped Barcelona‘s La Masia youth academy for a new challenge in Lancashire last August, in part to avoid comparisons to his famous father.
Mendes has featured regularly for Burnley’s U21s away from the Spanish spotlight, with Cork revealing the secret is ‘treating him the same as we treat all the other lads.’
Cork was once on the books at ChelseaAFP However, he left Stamford Bridge without playing a minute for the first-teamGettyHe told talkSPORT: “Joao’s a great lad. Obviously, he’s got a dad who’s Ronaldinho. But I think coming to Burnley is a great thing for him to have to do.
“I think he’s going out there trying to prove himself, trying to work hard. There’s no better club for him to come to.
“If you think of clubs that have got work ethic and hard work, you’ve got to really crack on with it.
“He’s here, and he’s come in, he’s applied himself 100 per cent every day. I’ve had no complaints. Hopefully, he hasn’t. There’s been an improvement with him the longer he’s been here.
“It’s just trying to treat him the same as all the other lads that are here. I think that’s how he’d want to be treated as well.”
Cork himself followed in his father’s footsteps, his dad Alan is an FA Cup winner with Wimbledon, while he can definitely relate to the challenges of being a major club’s academy.
Mendes (left) spent last season in Barcelona’s academyGetty Ronaldinho has since become an honorary Burnley fanInstagramIn 2005, fittingly the year Ronaldinho won the Ballon d’Or, Cork was a member of the Stamford Bridge club’s youth set-up.
He was a ball-boy at Chelsea‘s final home game of the 2004/05 season where they lifted the Premier League title under Jose Mourinho.
Cork, then 15, watched on as Claude Makelele – who later became his coach during his spell at Swansea – scored his first Blues goal via a penalty rebound in a 1-0 win over Charlton.
“He was one of my idols coming through,” Cork explained. “You had John Terry, Frank Lampard, Marcel Desailly, but for me, when I was coming through at Chelsea, Maka was the main defensive midfielder, the one that everyone looked to for that role. Just to be around him and see him work was amazing.
“I was lucky enough to go to Swansea. He was my assistant manager. To have him for a year trying to explain stuff and talk me through things, he was the best in that position, it was amazing to learn so much from him.”
Cork would go on to captain Chelsea at youth and reserve level but was sent out on eight separate loans before leaving Stamford Bridge without a single minute of first-team football to his name.
Cork was a ball boy when Makelele opened his account for ChelseaGettyThe ex-midfielder joined Southampton permanently in 2011 and helped the club return to the top-flight as the only Saints player to have featured in every one of the team’s 46 league games.
His form saw him named in Stuart Pearce‘s 18-man Great Britain squad for the 2012 Summer Olympics, alongside Ryan Giggs, Craig Bellamy and Micah Richards.
Cork, who described the Games as ‘one of the best experiences of my life’, played as a substitute in each of Team GB‘s three group matches prior to their last-16 exit.
He revealed: “I didn’t get any shirts. I’ve got one home and one away shirt. I’ve got one left, but the rest I gave to family.”
That gesture landed Cork in good stead years later when Gareth Southgate handed him a shock England call-up… after he’d booked a holiday with his family.
It meant when he was handed his one and only cap in the closing minutes of a 0-0 draw against then-world champions Germany in 2017 – his wife, mother, and children were 3,500 miles away in Dubai.
Cork was part of Pearce’s 18-man GB squad for the 2012 OlympicsGetty He was used as a late sub in each of the three preliminary-round gamesGettyRecounting the call-up, Cork laughed as he told talkSPORT: “No, they were fine, got a call up, got a holiday booked, the manager said, ‘Do you want to go? You can go and holiday with your family, or go to England.’
“With no disrespect to my family, I was always going to pick England. I thought it was behind me.
“I was 28 years old and a huge amount of respect for Gareth Southgate for picking me at 28 years old when he said he’d pick on form, and we were fourth in the league. It was an amazing experience.
“Honestly, it was great up there with the Olympics. I’ll always be grateful to him for giving me that opportunity.”
He was one of five debutants in England’s draw with GermanyGettyCork did have one notable cheerleader at Wembley, though, with father Alan witnessing his Three Lions introduction.
It marked another full circle moment for the family, with Cork Jr infamously missing his dad’s goal for Sheffield United in an FA Cup semi-final derby against Sheffield Wednesday at the old Wembley in 1993 – despite being in the stands.
Cork admitted: “I dropped my hotdog in the game, and he scored, and I was crying. My mum and dad won’t let me forget it.
“I think he was too busy crying when I came on [against Germany], to be honest. He gets a bit emotional.”
While not to the same level, Cork will experience similar feelings of pride as his Burnley starlets face off against, amongst others, a German team in the fifth instalment of the Dude Perfect International Youth Cup.
He said: “It’s a great opportunity for them because we’re a Category Two academy now, and we don’t get to play as many big teams as often as we like.
Cork has now returned to Turf Moor as a coachBurnley The ex-England star believes it’s harder now for academy players to come through“So to get a chance to play teams from abroad, teams like [AC] Milan, Juventus, we beat Valencia in the final last year.
“It’s been going on for the last five years now. I’ve presented the trophies the last two years, and just to our lads, when they won it and they lifted the trophy, it’s such a great moment for them.
“All their pictures are plastered all over the training ground, all over the changing rooms, all over the canteen.
“So it’s moments that will live them forever.”
And from a man once in their shoes who went on to play for England and appear in the Olympics, he knows a thing or two about moments that will live forever…
Click here to access free tickets to the Dude Perfect International Youth Cup taking place in Burnley from May 30.
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