Aston Villa are reportedly close to agreeing a £19m exit for Omari Kellyman as he looks set to join Chelsea.
The 18-year-old has emerged as one of our top young players over the past 12 months or so, breaking into Unai Emery’s senior squad to make six appearances last season after impressing at youth level.
READ MORE: Villa confirm talented starlet’s exit in touted £9m move
Having signed a new contract in November, it had been hoped that he was building towards having a bright future at Villa, but it looks as though his career is set to take a different path.
According to The Athletic, Chelsea are close to reaching an agreement to sign Kellyman in a deal worth around £19m, with a medical and talks over personal terms still to come before the transfer can be officially confirmed.
As per Fabrizio Romano though, Kellyman has given his approval to the switch to Chelsea, and so it appears as though an announcement could be imminent.
Having already announced Tim Iroegbunam’s departure to join Everton this weekend, Villa look set to green light another top young talent’s exit this summer, and there could potentially be more to follow.
While there is a natural sense of disappointment to see our Academy players being sold, particularly given the hope that they would be good enough to make an important contribution at senior level, it’s ultimately smart business from Villa.
Amid ongoing concerns over PSR and our reported need to balance our books before the end of June, these sales will address those issues and hopefully give us significant flexibility and spending power moving forward for the rest of the summer to bring in crucial reinforcements for Unai Emery.
Selling our youth players goes on the accounts as pure profit, and as frustrating as it is to keep selling them, it’s simply becoming a key strategy for clubs now to help the financial and business side and find that balance to being competitive both in the short-term and long-term future.
It’s hoped that we don’t end up massively regretting these decisions, but as we saw with the likes of Cameron Archer, Jaden Philogene and Aaron Ramsey leaving last summer, we can expect more of it in the future, and there will be an emphasis on that in order to keep funding our push to be more competitive by bringing in top-level talent.