Chelsea have hijacked Dujuan Richards’ proposed move to Newcastle United, while the Magpies have been linked with a summer move for Blues talent Frankie Runham.
As we revealed in a January exclusive, Richards arrived on Tyneside last month for a two-week trial, linking up with our Under-21 squad in search of a professional contract.
Fabrizio Romano claims that Newcastle were ‘close’ to signing the 17-year-old Jamaican, only for Chelsea director Joe Shields to play a ‘crucial’ role in negotiations to hijack his proposed move to St James’ Park.
The teenage striker – who bagged 31 goals and 19 assists for Phoenix All Stars Academy last season – has signed a pre-contract agreement with the Blues and will officially arrive at Stamford Bridge when he turns 18 in November.
As for Runham, it’s believed Newcastle are keen to add the 16-year-old England youth international to our Academy ranks this summer, hoping to tie up a deal before the end of the season that sees him leave Chelsea for our U18 side.
… and that’s the last you ever hear of Dujuan Richards. Forget whisper, the lad will be a distance memory.
Sharpy17(Quote)
Chelsea is not the place to go to if you want to play regular first team football, they have so many players farmed out and some have had good potential international careers stalled.
Players need to play regularly to be recognised.
Greedy agents looking after finances rather than what’s best for the player, so hardly a shock that this has happened because it happens all the time.
I remember Liverpool buying players under Bill Shankley who had played well against them, then he stuck them in the reserves for an eternity.
Weakening the opposition by cherry picking their better players can nearly be as powerful as buying players in some cases, it happens with relegated teams nearly every season.
Joseph(Quote)
He was waiting to hear from us. That means we didn’t want him. If we did we would have signed him before he left the building.
PremAndUp(Quote)
Let’s hope we didn’t lose him because of dithering, If they didn’t rate him then that’s fine
Alwizuk(Quote)