Chelsea have completed the signing of Lesley Ugochukwu from Rennes for £23.2million.
The promising French midfielder, 19, has put pen to paper on a seven-year contract at Stamford Bridge that includes the option for a further 12 months beyond that, joining up with Mauricio Pochettino’s squad on their pre-season tour of the USA, which concludes with a final friendly against Borussia Dortmund in Chicago on Wednesday night.
“We’re delighted Lesley is joining Chelsea. He is an impressive young player who has already made his mark in Ligue 1,” said Chelsea’s co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley.
“He has a huge amount of potential and we know he is going to continue to develop and improve. We are pleased that he has joined us in the U.S and that he will be able to integrate with the squad quickly.”
Pochettino had already seemingly confirmed that Ugochukwu will go out on loan next season, likely back in France with partner club Strasbourg. The France Under-19 international already has 60 senior appearances under his belt for Rennes.
“I think you’re still talking about if we need experience in midfield,” Pochettino responded to questions over Ugochukwu after they clinched the inaugural Premier League Summer Series title with victory over west London rivals Fulham in Landover on Sunday.
“I have the information you have. My information is a player that is from France that maybe they sign with the idea to send on loan. The information was already in your laptop!”
However, addressing the media again in Chicago shortly after the signing of Ugochukwu, Pochettino did not rule out the teenager having a possible first-team role in 2023/24 as he plans to assess his qualities in training in the days ahead. It remains unclear if Ugochukwu will play any part against Dortmund at Soldier Field.
“Today is going to be his first training session with us,” Pochettino said. “He is a young, talented player. We don’t know if he will have the possibility to play tomorrow as we need to assess him. We will assess him for the transfer window to see if he will be with us because he is young. He has the possibility to be on loan or stay with us.”
Ugochukwu’s arrival at Chelsea will be followed swiftly by that of another Frenchman in Axel Disasi, with a £39m deal with Monaco agreed as the club look to strengthen further at centre-back with Wesley Fofana and Disasi’s former Monaco team-mate Benoit Badiashile currently sidelined through injury.
The Blues have also been offered Juventus striker Dusan Vlahovic as part of a swap deal involving Romelu Lukaku and remain in talks over Brighton duo Moises Caicedo and Robert Sanchez, with Nicolas Jackson and Christopher Nkunku their two notable summer signings so far, along with a slew of talented youngsters including Angelo Gabriel and Diego Moreira.
Chelsea have also successfully warded off interest in Levi Colwill to agree a new six-year contract with the former Brighton loanee.
