Chelsea sign 17-year-old Jimmy-Jay Morgan from Southampton

Highly rated prospect Jimmy-Jay Morgan got started in youth football at Cobham some ten years ago, before spending the last six years at Southampton’s academy. But now he’s back with us, having completed a move to Chelsea days after turning 17, and thus signing his initial three-year professional contract through 2026, having rejected a similar deal from Saints. (Three years is the maximum allowed for such deals.)

According to reports, Chelsea are paying “an initial” £3m to make this happen, which might imply some conditional add-ons in the future but also indicates that we negotiated this deal rather than resorting to any sort of tribunal to decide the financial aspects (which probably would shortchange Southampton). The wheels were probably also greased by Joe Shields recently joining us from Southampton to become our new Co-Director of Recruitment and Talent.

Morgan has become a prolific goalscorer for Southampton’s youth teams and we’re undoubtedly expecting him to do the same for us. He will initially join the U18s and the U21s, but it probably won’t be too long before he starts pushing for more challenging assignments.