Chelsea’s highly-rated youth prospect Dominic Solanke will leave at the end of the season after the club ended talks over a new deal.
The Blues are refusing to be held to ransom by their highly-rated teenage striker, who has demanded a pay rise from £7,000 to £50,000 a week to stay at Stamford Bridge, as well as promises of regular football.
The 19-year-old’s contract expires in the summer, although Chelsea will be entitled to compensation worth at least £8m due to rules regarding academy-trained players leaving before the age of 24.
It is understood that Solanke, who has been at Chelsea since joining their Under-8s side, has been telling friends he is going to sign for Liverpool, although the Merseyside club claim they are not interested.
Solanke has scored 61 goals for various youth teams between 2013-15. He made his senior debut at 17 in the Champions League against Maribor in 2014 but has not played for the first team since and failed to impress on loan at Vitesse Arnhem last season.
The England U-21 was included in the squad for Chelsea’s three League Cup games this season, albeit as an unused substitute, and was also on the bench for the League win over Leicester in October.
But Chelsea and Solanke’s representatives are no closer to agreeing a deal and, significantly, the player has yet to be involved in the FA Cup, where Chelsea have a fifth-round tie at Wolves tomorrow. Instead, he has been relegated to playing in the U-23s, where he has scored twice in his last three games.
Chelsea already have Diego Costa and Michy Batshuayi and are looking to buy at least one more forward this summer, with Alvaro Morata and Romelu Lukaku their prime targets.
Tammy Abraham, who has scored 21 goals on loan at Bristol City this season, has also moved ahead of Solanke in the pecking order and is rated by coach Antonio Conte.
The Blues coach is expected to make a number of changes for the trip to Molineux. Captain John Terry will replace David Luiz, while Asmir Begovic, Kurt Zouma, Nathan Ake, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Nathaniel Chalobah, Cesc Fabregas and Batshuayi are in contention to start.
COMMENTS