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Chelsea have spent close to £300m on six Manchester City academy graduates since 2023, and their first-team squad next season could contain more players developed at the Etihad than at their own Cobham academy. The latest is club-record £117m signing Morgan Rogers, who scored against Chelsea's Under-18s in the 2020 FA Youth Cup final — the same game that featured Cole Palmer and Liam Delap in City colours. Palmer, Delap, Romeo Lavia, Jamie Gittens and Tosin Adarabioyo complete that group of six now based at Stamford Bridge.
Xabi Alonso's Limited Homegrown Options
New Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso, by contrast, looks likely to have just three permanent Cobham products in his senior squad: Levi Colwill, captain Reece James and Josh Acheampong. Trevoh Chalobah remains registered but is in advanced talks over a move to Serie A side Como.
Joe Shields' Role in Academy Recruitment
The pipeline has a structural explanation. Joe Shields, who worked in City's academy recruitment department, now handles both youth and senior recruitment at Chelsea. First-team coach Calum McFarlane and recently promoted academy director Glenn van der Kraan are also former City employees. The influence runs deeper still — former head coach Enzo Maresca and several of his backroom staff previously worked at the Etihad before Maresca returned to City.
Palmer's transformation into one of the Premier League's standout performers after his £40m move in 2023 proved the concept. One former insider told BBC Sport that players coming from City 'know what good looks like.' Clubs are also incentivised to sell academy graduates because those fees count as pure profit under Premier League and Uefa accounting rules — Chelsea's sale of Tyrique George to Everton this summer being a recent example.