Football

Chelsea want Charlie Allen on trial as Blues seek to beat Premier League rivals to signing


Chelsea and Southampton are both chasing highly-rated Northern Ireland teenager Charlie Allen.

The 15-year-old has already broken into the first team at Northern Irish champions Linfield, and is now being chased by a bevy of Premier League clubs, having had trials at Tottenham and Manchester City.

Chelsea, currently under a transfer ban, are exploring the possibility of taking Allen on trial. Norwich and Glaswegian giants Rangers are also, though, on the teenager’s trail.

Attacking midfielder Allen made his senior debut during the latter stages of last season, playing the final eight minutes of a 1-1 draw at Coleraine to become the club’s youngest debutant, as Linfield closed on the Danske Bank Premiership title.

He then featured in pre-season friendlies against Motherwell and St Johnstone, and was included in Linfield’s 25-man squad for their Champions League qualification tie against Rosenborg but wasn’t named on the bench during either leg of the 6-0 aggregate defeat.

Allen started a 5-1 win over East Belfast last month in the County Antrim Shield, and also came on as a late substitute during two wins over Dungannon Swifts.

The schoolboy has been capped at Under-17 level by his country, and was an integral part of the Northern Ireland U16s squad which won a UEFA development tournament on home soil in April, beating Kosovo, Luxembourg and the Faroe Islands.

Chelsea have embraced youth development wholeheartedly during the Roman Abramovich era but few academy graduates made the grade before this year.

The Blues’ transfer ban has, however, seen the likes of Tammy Abraham, Mason Mount and Fikayo Tomori thrive at senior level this season.

Callum Hudson-Odoi, Reece James and Ruben Loftus-Cheek have been battling back from injuries but are expected to thrive under Frank Lampard too.

The now proven path to the first team may help Chelsea in their quest to beat rivals to Allen’s signature.



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