Chelsea’s highly-rated teenage defender Josh Acheampong has been told he will not play for the club’s first team or development squad until he signs a new contract.
Acheampong’s current deal expires in 2026 and the club have opened talks over an extension to secure his long-term future, but nothing has been finalised yet.
In the summer, Chelsea regarded him as third choice in the pecking order of their right backs at the club behind captain Reece James and Malo Gusto. It is one of the reasons they were not too disappointed at missing out to Wolves on the signing of Pedro Lima from Sport Recife.
However, Acheampong was not even named on the bench for Chelsea’s games at Bournemouth and West Ham last month despite James and Gusto being unavailable for selection through injury. Head coach Enzo Maresca used Axel Disasi and Wesley Fofana, who are more known as centre backs, at right back instead.
Acheampong made his professional debut under former boss Mauricio Pochettino against Tottenham in February and was taken on the club’s pre-season tour of the USA ahead of the more experienced Trevoh Chalobah in the summer.
But the 18-year-old has made just one appearance under Maresca so far, playing 27 minutes as a substitute against Barrow in the Carabao Cup on September 24. He has not been in the matchday squad since then.
Significantly Acheampong has not played for the Under-21s either despite starting four of their first five games this season. His last match for them was on September 15 and his name was not on the teamsheet for their Premier League Cup match at Bournemouth last night. It means he has gone nearly a full month without representing Chelsea at any level.
Acheampong is not injured and made two appearances for England’s Under-20s during the recent international break.
The Athletic has been told by multiple sources with knowledge of the situation, who spoke anonymously to protect relationships, that Acheampong’s omission is due to the contract talks stalling and the club have told him the situation will not change unless he extends.
It was reported last week that Acheampong, who can also play at centre back, is already being targeted by other high profile clubs over a January transfer, but Chelsea do not want to sell. They are still planning for negotiations to resume and remain optimistic that the situation can be resolved.
Chelsea once again take strong stance with academy graduate
Analysis by Chelsea correspondent Simon Johnson
This is not the first time Chelsea have taken a strong stance with an academy graduate during contract negotiations so in some ways this development is not too much of a surprise.
Chelsea have made it pretty clear in their treatment of the more established Mason Mount and Conor Gallagher that they do not want players to run their contracts down to 12 months (and under).
Both first team players had one year remaining on their deals when they were sold to Manchester United (2023) and Atletico Madrid (2024) respectively. Offers were made during rounds of talks beforehand but after no agreement was reached, Chelsea felt it left them with little choice because they could not afford to miss out on a sizeable transfer fee.
In Gallagher’s case, he was told to train away from the first team on reporting back for pre-season in August while his move to Atletico was being discussed. The player came away from a meeting held with Chelsea early that month under the impression that if he did not sign a new deal or join Atletico, then he would not play.
What makes the Acheampong situation so startling is that things have escalated this soon and with a youngster who has made just two senior appearances.
Chelsea do hold Acheampong in high regard but the teenager has been given reason to question his pathway to featuring a lot more in the future. By not even making the squad for the Bournemouth and West Ham United games when James and Gusto were ruled out, it does send a signal that he is not going to be called upon very often.
While Chelsea did miss out on buying Lima to Wolves, they did make a move for the 18-year-old right back in the first place and by spending well over £1billion in the market over two years, they have built a reputation for looking for talent elsewhere.
Acheampong’s hesitation is akin to two other home grown right backs in Tariq Lamptey and Tino Livramento, who left during the Roman Abramovich era. They rejected contracts because of fears over game time with Cesar Azpilicueta and James being in front of them. Lamptey was sold to Brighton (2020), while Livramento joined Southampton (2021).
The decision to leave Acheampong out of all Chelsea teams though is similar to what former striker Dominic Solanke went through in 2016-17 before he left for Liverpool.
Chelsea understandably want their players to commit for the long-term and be prepared to fight for their place. Two of Maresca’s first choice XI are academy graduates Reece James and Levi Colwill and they signed contracts under the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium until 2028 and 2030 respectively. The club also rejected strong interest from Bayern Munich in Colwill this summer.
Chelsea will think if Acheampong really wants to stay at Stamford Bridge, then he should sign. But from the outside, it is hard to see how this tactic of freezing him out improves their chances.
(Top photo: Zac Goodwin/PA Images via Getty Images)
