Fabrizio Romano’s Daily Briefings for Caughtoffside are naturally pretty quiet right now – we’re in the lull between the noise of the summer and the winter transfer windows.
But the Italian insider is still picking up on things, and today he’s got reports back on the status of Josh Acheampong.
The young defender is massively highly rated – so much so that there’s a clamour for him to start getting more senior minutes in the first team already. He’s had a couple of cameos off the bench, but in general fans want to see far, far more.
One solution is to send him on loan, and we would be very surprised if that doesn’t happen next summer, or perhaps even in January if the defender pushes for it. But what can’t be allowed to happen is a permanent departure. There was some whisper of that this week, with Newcastle apparently looking to sign up another young Cobham talent to follow Tino Livramento and Lewis Hall to St James’ Park.
Fortunately for Chelsea fans, Romano has dismissed the rumours:
“There’s no “situation” at all with Josh Acheampong, he wrote.
“He’s a Chelsea player, considered part of the project and an important talent, and he’s also really appreciated by Enzo Maresca and his staff. No story, no talks with Newcastle or any other club, nothing. Acheampong is one of the players trusted by Chelsea and there are no movements ongoing.
A relief – but what’s next?
We’re delighted to hear it – but even if these rumours are false, it’s a reminder that we need to find a pathway for Acheampong before something similar does actually happen. We’ve seen so many players keen to stay end up leaving because they simply couldn’t see their way into the team. With Acheampong we still have time – but giving him opportunities this season will be important.
