Academy player Connor Hunte may no longer be at Chelsea

Connor Hunte has been making a name for himself in both the Chelsea youth setup and at the England U16 and U17 levels, so much so that there was quite a buzz last season about him moving to Manchester City. Those rumors dried up quickly last January though, as the player and club reportedly reached an agreement on a professional contract they'd enter into when the player turned 17.

Hunte has been absent from Chelsea training since the end of last season, and despite the fact that he was expected to sign a professional deal with the club in September, it appears that the club and player may have agreed to part ways. The Chels (which should be something you read regularly) believes that may be the case, and they're as informed an outfit on the Chelsea youth setup as you'll find outside of the club's hierarchy.

Losing Hunte would be unfortunate, as even if he wasn't one of the elite prospects in the academy, he was showing signs of promise at a very young age. The club are very deep at both the first team and academy level with similar types of players, but it's never something that you want to see when a talented youngster leaves before we really know what we've got.

If The Chels is correct here, and Hunte has indeed left, it certainly makes the Izzy Brown signing make all that much more sense. Brown is another high ceiling prospect that would have been directly competing with Connor for minutes, and with Hunte apparently departing, his role with the U18 and U21 setups this season isn't really all that hard to see.

I doubt I'm alone in hoping that Hunte hasn't actually left the club, but at this point I doubt that would be any more than hope. If he's indeed left the academy to latch on somewhere else, here's hoping he has the best of luck and manages to carve out a nice career in professional football. Just save those bad days for when you come up against the Blues...ok?