Official: Jake Clarke-Salter re-joins Birmingham City on loan from Chelsea

Chelsea center back Jake Clarke-Salter has returned to Birmingham City on loan, after spending all of last season there as well.

The 23-year-old, who has two years left on his current Chelsea contract, made 23 appearances for the Championship outfit last season, but for some reason had to wait until the final hours of the extended transfer window to make things official. (Reports had talked about some sort of “small” injury, but that doesn’t explain what happened in the preceding weeks and months.)

Clarke-Salter is the eleventh new arrival at St Andrew’s this summer as new head coach Aitor Karanka looks to avoid last season’s relegation fight, when The Blues finished just two points above the drop zone (even though they had Jude Bellingham, who has since moved to Borussia Dortmund). So far, they’ve own just one of their four games, though they’ve yet to lose.

(Birmingham City is also where Josh McEachran is currently, though he’s still recovering from the ACL surgery he had at the end of February.)

In any case, best of luck, Jake!