Chelsea are eyeing a move for Charlton Athletic youngster James Beadle, as per The Sun on Sunday (24.10.21, pg. 65).
Beadle, 17, is a product of the Charlton Athletic youth academy.
The goalkeeper plays for England at U18 level and has featured on the bench once for the Addicks this season, in the 4-1 win over Southampton U21 in the Papa John’s Trophy earlier this month.
He’s yet to make a matchday squad for Charlton but now, Alan Nixon is reporting in The Sun on Sunday that Chelsea have been tracking the youngster, and that they’re ‘set to pounce’.
Nixon goes on to write that Charlton are ‘vulnerable because of Beadle’s contract status’ and that the League One club could lose him for a nominal sum, with Charlton supposedly hoping for at least £400,000 plus extras.
Lastly, Nixon goes on to reveal that Brighton & Hove Albion are also keen on the Englishman, but that Chelsea are in pole position to make the signing.
For managerless Charlton Athletic, losing a young star in Beadle before he’s even broken into the first-team would be an undeniable blow.
But it seems to be happening more and more across the Football League wherein a young talent is discovered and picked up by teams of Chelsea’s stature, and often for very little.
Johnnie Jackson oversaw Charlton Athletic’s trip to Sunderland yesterday and the caretaker boss oversaw an unprecedented 1-0 win to move them up into 22nd-place of the League One table.
