Manchester City are used to picking up fees for their former academy players but will have to be content without one this time
Jamie Gittens
Chelsea are set to sign Jamie Gittens(Image: Borussia Dortmund via Getty Imag)
Manchester City have become accustomed to taking money from Chelsea in recent years. They gladly accepted £50m for Raheem Sterling in 2022 and £42.5m for Cole Palmer a year later, and have also made significant money from indirect sales.
City's policy of inserting sell-on clauses when they sell academy players has seen them pick up various sums from the West London clubs in recent years following the arrival of some former City academy staff. They pocketed over £10m when Chelsea bought Romeo Lavia from Southampton in 2023 and this month picked up £2m from Liam Delap's move to Stamford Bridge.
One youngster that City won't make money from though is Jamie Gittens. The former City youngster is closing in on a £55m deal to become Chelsea's latest winger after building his reputation in senior football at Dortmund.
However, unusually for City, there was no sell-on clause inserted in the deal that took him to Germany and so they will miss out on what could have been a hefty profit on another footballer Chelsea are willing to pay big money for.
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Gittens did not spend long at City but still counts as an alumni of an academy where there is an increasing colony at Chelsea. As well as Palmer and Delap, there is also former City defender Tosin Adarabioyo while Gittens is coming in to replace Jadon Sancho after a decision was made not to make his deal permanent; former City Under-21s coach Enzo Mareca was appointed Chelsea manager last year.
Chelsea could face City in the semi-finals of the Club World Cup after Maresca's men battled past Benfica and a two-hour weather delay to make the quarter-finals.
They face Palmeiras in their quarter-final, while should City make it past Al Hilal in their last-16 game they will face Inter or Fluminense in the quarters.
City's game against Al Hilal comes on Monday night at 9pm local time in Orlando (2am UK time), with the Blues bolstered by a 5-2 thumping of Juventus in their final group game that saw them top their group and avoid a last-16 clash with Real Madrid.
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