. . . as Chelsea kid Solanke demands £50k per week!
DOMINIC SOLANKE is demanding £50,000 a week and the promise of more firstteam opportunities to sign a new contract at Chelsea — despite having played just 17 minutes for the first team.
Solanke, 18 years old and on loan at Vitesse Arnhem in Holland, has one year left on his deal worth £8,000 a week and contract talks have stalled, as revealed by Sportsmail last week.
Chelsea’s technical director Michael Emenalo rates the England Under 21 striker very highly and is committed to bringing through more youngsters but is determined not to be held to ransom.
It will be a bitter blow if Chelsea lose Solanke, long since identified as one of the academy graduates capable of bridging the gap to the first team.
Jose Mourinho once offered to shoulder the blame if Solanke did not go on to play for England at senior level, such has been the expectation around the forward.
The Basingstoke- born forward joined Chelsea in the Under 8s but he and his family have grown concerned by the lack of opportunities for young players at Stamford Bridge. He made his firstteam debut last season in the Champions League against Maribor, coming on as a late substitute, but has spent this campaign on loan at Vitesse, where he has scored seven goals in 24 appearances. He signed his first professional contract in September 2014 and, in football’s over- inflated world, might reasonably expect his next deal at a club of Chelsea’s stature to take him into the £20,000-a-week bracket.
Chelsea have reacted to the impasse by lining up 19-yearold Fulham striker Moussa Dembele, who will be out of contract in June.
The club’s struggles to keep hold of Solanke are part of a worrying trend and one which Emenalo is determined to address.
Emenalo’s academy has consistently produced exciting players at 17 and 18 in recent years — and won many trophies — but establishing a pathway into the first team has proved difficult.
The reasons are varied but the impact has become tangible with growing discontent in the development ranks, where young players see Hector Bellerin given his chance at Arsenal, Jordon Ibe at Liverpool and Dele Alli at Tottenham.
Solanke’s fellow Chelsea youth product Ruben LoftusCheek has recently signed a new contract at Stamford Bridge thought to be worth £40,000 a week plus bonuses.
Loftus-Cheek is 20 years old, has made 19 first- team appearances and has spent the whole of this season in the first-team squad.