Academy talent was “adamant” about leaving Chelsea due to lack of first team pathway

Today’s Daily Mail has an exclusive on the Jude Soonsup-Bell situation, which lays bare the reality for young players at the club at the moment.

JSB left for Spurs in January, ahead of his contract running out in the summer. According to the piece, his exit had “long been on the cards” and the young attacker was “adamant” about going because of a lack of a clear pathway to the first team.

He made his debut in the Covid nightmare of this time a year ago, but since then has just been pushed further and further down the depth chart by a stream of expensive arrivals.

If he couldn’t get a sniff when we were losing every game and were racked by injury, what chance does he have now we’ve signed a load of superstars?

This is just the reality of the situation, and unfortunately we can expect to see plenty of other players taking a similar route in years to come. At the moment, it feels like it’s only the Champions League squad registration rules that are stopping our new owners building a full 25 man squad of elite players from abroad.

Chelsea News