Exclusive: Chelsea to hand highly-rated defender new long-term deal

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Published on:

23 Jul 2019, 12:50 pm

EXCLUSIVE by Pete O'Rourke

Chelsea are set to hand Jake Clarke-Salter a new contract before sanctioning a loan move away from Stamford Bridge, Football Insider understands.

The defender is some way down the pecking order under Frank Lampard and the club feel he will benefit by going out on loan and getting valuable first-team football next season.

A source at Stamford Bridge has told Football Insider that the Blues think highly of the 21-year-old and want to tie him down to a new long-term deal to secure his future, his current contract set to expire in the summer of 2021.

The centre-back is close to joining Birmingham City on a temporary deal but that move will only be sanctioned when he has put pen to paper on his new deal in London.

It will be another loan switch in a growing list of temporary moves away from Stamford Bridge, the England under-21 captain having spent time at Vitesse Arnhem, Sunderland and Bristol Rovers in recent seasons.

His stint in the Netherlands with Vitesse, which spanned the entirety of the 2018/19 campaign, saw him play 37 times for the Dutch club, scoring his one and only goal for the Dutch side on his first Eredivisie appearance.

He has featured twice for Chelsea's first team, his debut coming as a substitute against Aston Villa in the Premier League back in 2016, while his second outing was in the League Cup versus Nottingham Forest over a year later.

In other Chelsea news, it can be REVEALED the club are in advanced talks over a deal for a colossal defender.

Chelsea FC

Birmingham City