Chelsea's squad for the new season is set to include more Manchester City academy graduates than players from their own Cobham academy, highlighting how heavily the club has come to rely on youngsters developed by their Premier League rivals. The trend has been driven partly by the breakout success of Cole Palmer since his 2023 move from City, alongside the presence of former City staff, such as recruitment figure Joe Shields, now working at Chelsea, and financial incentives under Premier League and UEFA rules that let academy sales count as pure profit.

The latest arrival is club-record £117m signing Morgan Rogers, joining fellow City academy products Cole Palmer, Liam Delap, Romeo Lavia, Jamie Gittens and Tosin Adarabioyo, six players who together account for almost £300m in transfer fees since 2023. By contrast, manager Xabi Alonso is likely to have just three Cobham graduates in his senior squad: Levi Colwill, captain Reece James and Josh Acheampong, with Trevoh Chalobah in advanced talks to leave for Como. Chelsea also employ several ex-City figures, including coach Calum McFarlane and academy director Glenn van der Kraan, and have previously targeted other City-linked players such as Michael Olise and Nico O'Reilly.