Chelsea agree £19m transfer fee with Aston Villa for Omari Kellyman

Chelsea have agreed a fee of £19 million with Aston Villa for 18-year-old attacking midfielder Omari Kellyman, according to The Athletic’s David Ornstein.

Kellyman has made just six first-team appearances for the Reds and Blues since joining from Derby County’s academy two years ago, playing just 153 minutes in total.

His only start came in the Europa League play-off second leg against Hibernian, where he provided an assist in a 5-0 win in Edinburgh.

Otherwise, he only made five brief cameos as a substitute, against Everton in the Carabao Cup, Manchester City and Crystal Palace in the Premier League, and Ajax and Olympiakos in Europe.

He has also represented England and Northern Ireland at youth level and currently hopes to represent the Three Lions at senior international level, although the IFA want him to join their youth squad.

Impact of Profitability and Sustainability Rules

The signing is particularly interesting given that Ian Maatson is heading in the opposite direction, joining Aston Villa from Chelsea for a reported £35m.

Both the Blues and Villa are reportedly on the verge of breaching profitability and sustainability rules, so we may see these informal swap deals progress in the coming years as an agreement is struck between the two clubs Probably beneficial to both parties.

Kellyman’s arrival will be a continuation of Chelsea’s transfer strategy

Since Clearlake Capital took control of Chelsea, led by Todd Boehly, Behdad Eghbali and José E. Feliciano, they have clearly invested a lot of money in the transfer market, around £982 million to be exact, at least in theory according to their strategy , is about buying young, promising players before anyone else knows about them.

Just last summer, the Blues paid £20m for Kani Chukwuemeka from Aston Villa, but he only made 12 appearances due to an ankle injury, and Kellyman looks set to follow suit.

Meanwhile, Mykhailo Mudryk, Malo Gusto, Benoît Badiashile, Noni Madueke, Andrey Santos, Cesare Casadei, Gaga Słonina, Lesley Ugochukwu, Đorđe Petrović, Axel Disasi, Deivid Washington and countless others (we certainly fit this profile!), so Kellyman’s The potential signings suggest ownership is sticking to their formula despite 12th- and 6th-place finishes so far.