Tottenham have reportedly agreed a transfer deal for Chelsea forward Jude Soonsup-Bell, who is expected to complete the move across London once he has a medical.
According to the Evening Standard, the youngster also had a similar offer from Manchester City, but it’s Tottenham who now look to be closing in on his signature in what could potentially be the start of a mass walk-out of the Blues’ young players.
Although the report names other Chelsea youngsters who have rejected offers to move away, it seems there are some concerns inside Stamford Bridge about academy players looking to move on following such a huge spending spree on new signings by new owner Todd Boehly.
Since the summer, Boehly has brought a long list of new faces to Chelsea, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Wesley Fofana, Raheem Sterling and Marc Cucurella among the stars to join at the start of the season, while more high-profile deals have followed this winter as the likes of Mykhaylo Mudryk, Joao Felix, Andrey Santos and Benoit Badiashile have joined.
Tottenham will surely feel they’ve done well to bring in a promising young talent like Soonsup-Bell to bolster their attacking options, but this is all perhaps a little worrying for Chelsea.
While Boehly is clearly ambitious and doing his best to bolster Graham Potter’s squad, Chelsea fans surely won’t be happy to see homegrown players looking for moves elsewhere.
The CFC academy have produced some superb talents in recent times, with the likes of Mason Mount and Reece James now key players for the first-team, while Conor Gallagher and Trevoh Chalobah have also had some success.