Chelsea have plenty of work ahead of them this summer and, while the priority will be to improve the first-team, the Blues are also looking to bolster their ranks at youth level.
The west London giants have earned a reputation for having their youth ranks stocked full of talent, often leading to accusations of hoarding players who won’t get near the first-team, and it seems another youngster is poised to join.
Football.London states Chelsea are set to secure defender Ian Maatsen ahead of the new Premier League campaign, signing the 16-year-old from Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven.
Maatsen will join the club’s highly successful U18 ranks, with Chelsea’s youth team having secured an unprecedented quadruple last season – including their fifth consecutive trophy in the FA Youth Cup.
Chelsea will hope that these talented youngsters go on to become assets for the first-team and have received encouragement by seeing Nathaniel Chalobah and Callum Huson-Odoi named in the squad towards the latter end of the season, while Rubens Loftus-Cheek is heading to the World Cup after impressing on-loan with Crystal Palace.
