Young defender becomes first Chelsea player to leave this summer

George Brady wasn't the biggest signing Chelsea made from Ligue 1 in the summer 2012, but he still arrived with a decent bit of fanfare for a 15-year-old.  He even got a blurb from the Daily Mail!  He was also 6'4" already, so in a way, he was actually pretty big.

Chelsea's new academy player George Brady (nephew of Karen,West Ham chief exec) His age??? 15!!!!!! #unit #CFC pic.twitter.com/CBPs8GBZ

— Carl Jackson (@jacko_cfc) July 18, 2012

That's Michael Emenalo on the right.  He's 6'1".

Brady, a center back, was a mainstay of the Chelsea U18s a year later and was rewarded with his first professional deal last summer.  But this season he had only made 10 appearances while battling a few injuries, and earlier on Saturday, U18 manager Joe Edwards confirmed that Brady has left the club.

"George and the club decided it was in his best interests to continue his career elsewhere. Obviously we'd like to wish him all the best now moving forward."

-Joe Edwards; source: Chelsea FC

There's no further hint of how or why this decision was made, but good luck to George in his future career!