Newcastle are hoping to lure Chelsea’s academy chiefs Neil Bath and Jim Fraser to St James’ Park this summer in a bid to revamp our youth system.
This comes from The Sun’s Dan King, who claims that Chelsea are vulnerable to losing the pair as sanctions on current owner Roman Abramovich has left them unable to agree new contracts to staff or offer assurances over their future.
Bath is Chelsea’s head of youth development, not only helping produce Academy-grown players like Reece James, Mason Mount and Andreas Christensen, but also making the club good money by generating big sums for those who have not quite made the grade at first-team level.
Fraser has also played a key role, being Bath’s assistant and the head of youth recruitment at Stamford Bridge – so he’s clearly got an eye for a player given Chelsea’s Academy has performed in recent years.
The report states that our interest in both is being discussed among agents and academy personnel across the Premier League.
However, the delay in appointing Brighton’s Dan Ashworth as director of football has highlighted the difficulties of getting such deals done, with Bath and Fraser’s contracts also likely to include long notice periods.
