Marc Guehi is set to join Swansea City on an 18-month loan deal with Chelsea deciding that the next step in the teenage centre back’s development is to play regular senior football.
While the 19-year-old was given his debut by head coach Frank Lampard in the Carabao Cup, Guehi was not part of the FA Cup squad that eased past Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
Further opportunities in the first team would have been limited as Lampard has four senior centre halves – Toni Rudiger, Kurt Zouma, Fikayo Tomoi and Andreas Christensen - in his squad with a January move for Bournemouth’s Nathan Ake, who is available for £40million thanks to a buyback clause, still possible.
Guehi, who joined Chelsea as an eight-year-old and is one of seven academy products to have been given a debut by Lampard since he took charge last July, is under contract until the summer of 2022 and has become a regular for England Under-21s.
Swansea manager Steve Cooper coached the teenager to the Under-17 World Cup during his time in international football.
The Sky Bet Championship club have already signed Liverpool’s Rhian Brewster on loan. He also played in that England Under-17 side.
Last week Lampard’s assistant manager Jody Morris spoke of how Guehi and midfielder Billy Gilmour were the next standout young players who could make a regular first-team breakthrough.
“They’ve been in and around the squad a lot and whenever they’ve trained with us, they’ve trained at a particularly high level,” Morris said.
