Chelsea are looking to sign Fin Cartwright from Middlesbrough, according to TEAMtalk. The 16-year-old is a highly-rated midfielder who graduated from Boro’s academy to make his first senior appearance this season. He’s training with both the first-team and academy but looks to have a bright future.
A lot has been said of Chelsea’s lofty spending under Todd Boehly, with €611m (£524m) going on new players in 2022/23 and €417m (£358m) going on recruitment this summer, but the Blues haven’t been signing players indiscriminately. There has been a clear policy to flood the first-team with young talent on long-term deals.
Chelsea only have two players above the age of 30 and only four players above the age of 26 – Mauricio Pochettino has as many teenagers in the first-team (4). The Blues have 12 players aged 21 or younger, so the plan looks to be to develop hot prospects. And while they’ve spent over €1bn on new talent, they’re not finished.
Cartwright is rated highly at Boro, hence him making his debut this campaign, but the North-East outfit might be resigned to losing the midfielder if a Premier League club comes knocking. The 16-year-old isn’t in any position to play regular first-team football, but he might be seduced by the project at Chelsea.
There’s clearly a pathway to the senior squad for young talent that show enough promise, but it remains to be seen how much Cartwright would cost. Money isn’t an object for the Blues, so they could match any valuation Boro slap on his head.
Chelsea have a very young first-team squad, but they’ve been signing young talent for their academy too. The Blues brought in 17-year-old Dujuan Richards from Pheonix Academy and 16-year-old Ollie Harrison from Newcastle for the U18s while signing 17-year-old Ishé Samuels-Smith from Everton, 18-year-old Alex Matos from Norwich City and Diego Moreira from Benfica for the U21s.
