Chelsea tell academy star he won’t play again until he signs a new contract

Chelsea have reportedly told academy star Josh Acheampong that he won’t play for the first team or development squad until he signs a new contract.

The 18-year-old joined Chelsea’s youth ranks as an Under-8 and signed his first professional deal with the Blues in January this year, which runs until 2026.

Chelsea are already desperate to extend Acheampong’s contract after the teenager attracted interest from Real Madrid and three Premier League clubs.

Acheampong is very much viewed as a jewel of the Cobham academy – but according to The Athletic – Chelsea won’t play him until he pens a new deal.

Chelsea have made it clear that they do not want players to run their contracts down to 12 months and under – and they took similar action with other stars.

The Blues have no desire whatsoever to sell Acheampong, though, who has been described as ‘brave’ and a player with ‘personality’ by head coach Enzo Maresca.

Instead, Chelsea are ‘optimistic’ that the situation will be resolved and are planning for negotiations to resume so he can continue playing for the club.

Acheampong, who can operate at right-back or centre-back, made his Premier League debut for Chelsea against Spurs last term and featured in the Carabao Cup win over Barrow AFC earlier this season.

Chelsea boss Maresca is a big fan of Acheampong and speaking in September, the Italian said: ‘I really like Josh.

‘For me, potentially, he can be a top player, a top defender in the future.

‘With young players, I have a lot of experience and I like to moderate them a little bit because today young players can change very quickly.

‘They can quickly think they are so good or so bad, so you need to moderate a little bit the way that they join us [in the first team].’

Acheampong recently made his debut for England Under-20s and also represented the Three Lions at U19, U18, U17 and U16 level.