Izzy Brown has been granted permission to begin training with Chelsea FC

Need an update on Chelsea's pursuit of Isaiah Brown? Luckily we have one courtesy of the Birmingham Mail's Chris Lepkowski:

Monday's B'ham Mail: #wba and #cfc negotiating compensation figure for Izzy Brown. Has permission to train with Chelsea (he did yesterday)

— Chris Lepkowski (@chrislepkowski) July 7, 2013

So it appears that West Brom have conceded that Izzy will be a Blue, and are allowing him to get on with his life while the two clubs hash out the details. This is not all that surprising, as even if the clubs fail to agree on a fee, an independent tribunal would step in and decide the fee for them.

From a personal standpoint, I'm thrilled to see Brown joining up with the Blues. He'll be a great addition to the U18, U21, and NextGen sides for next season, and might even get a chance or two with the first team if he continues to develop nicely. It will be a far tougher task for Brown to make a name for himself at Chelsea than it would have at West Brom, but he certainly has the talent to do so.

The addition of Brown to an already crowded academy mix would seem to indicate that some more loans will be coming. While there shouldn't be a huge rush to do so during the pre-season, I'd expect to start seeing names like Josh McEachran, Nathan Ake, Nathaniel Chalobah, and Lewis Baker linked to temporary moves shortly. Jose Mourinho will likely look at all of them at some point, but I'd be surprised if any of the four were kept with the first team after the addition of Marco Van Ginkel.

Regardless of any subsequent moves, welcome to Chelsea Izzy Brown. Just remember not to feed Milan Lalkovic after midnight...