Reports emerging from the Netherlands this lunchtime have three of Chelsea’s young players heading to Vitesse Arnhem for season-long loan spells.
Nemanja Matic, Slobodan Rajkovic and Matej Delač are all in Arnhem ahead of confirming the deals, potentially as early as this afternoon.
The Serbian duo have been in training with the rest of the squad this morning whilst the young Croatian goalkeeper Delač has been undergoing a series of medical tests ahead of joining them.
Delač is set to replace Piet Velthuizen, the club’s goalkeeper of the last four seasons, who joined Spanish club Hercules at the weekend.
The deals are said to be the result of a friendship between Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich and Georgian businessman Merab Jordania, who bought the financially-stricken Eredivisie outfit last week.
Some have claimed that Abramovich is behind the move, seeking alternative arrangements for his club’s young talents, but nothing has come of those rumours since they emerged.
A fourth player, Jacob Mellis, was linked late last week after the Georgian owner mentioned him by name, but with Matic since coming into the picture, it is likely a confusion of names was the cause of that story breaking.
Jordania claims to have a three-year plan in place to have his new team competing for the Dutch title, and some media outlets claim that the club have negotiated an option to buy the trio at the end of the season.
If true, it would make little sense on Chelsea’s part, but as of right now the story is particularly unfounded, and we can only wait and see what comes of it. Rest assured, should anything develop on this front, you’ll hear about it first here.
For now, however, expect to see Matic and Rajkovic unveiled this afternoon after training, and Delač to follow in the coming days.
All three are set to make their debuts against Feyenoord on Sunday, and you will be able to keep right up to date on their progress throughout the season here on TheChels.net, and on Twitter @chelseayouth.
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