Aston Villa have confirmed that Omari Kellyman has left the club to join Chelsea, in a move reportedly worth £19m.
The 18-year-old arrived at the club in March 2022 and after impressing at youth level, he began training consistently with the senior squad before going on to make six appearances for Unai Emery’s side.
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Given the talent and potential he showed, Kellyman is expected to go on and have a bright future, but as per the club’s official statement, that will happen elsewhere as he’s completed a move to join Chelsea.
According to Fabrizio Romano, the transfer is said to be worth £19m, and so although it’s disappointing to see another of our more promising Academy products move on after Tim Iroegbunam’s departure last week, it’s arguably an astute move from Villa given the money on the table for a young player who is still very much unproven at the top level.
Naturally, there is going to be a risk that Kellyman develops into a top-level player and we perhaps rue the decision to sell him, but ultimately in the position that we’re currently in as we continue to address PSR concerns and try to balance our books, it’s a choice that hopefully helps us both in the short-term and long-term future to become increasingly competitive.
It’s become a clear strategy from the club that we use our Academy to develop young talent and sell on for profit, and that makes a significant difference in terms of being sustainable when it comes to our own spending on Emery’s preferred targets to improve his squad.
The objective of the club will be to ensure that our revenue and turnover increases significantly in the coming years in order to help us avoid having to sell every summer, but for the time being, it looks like it’s a model that is working, albeit there will be frustration that we continue to sell our top young talents.
Coupled with the expectation that Douglas Luiz will leave to join Juventus imminently, Villa will hopefully now be in a position to focus on strengthening further for the rest of this transfer window, and so selling Kellyman and Iroegbunam will hopefully have served its purpose and given us the vital boost needed.
