Who Is Jamie Gittens? Chelsea’s New Signing Explained

International media reported on Saturday that Chelsea had agreed to pay Borussia Dortmund up to €65 million ($76.1 million) to sign forward Jamie Gittens.

A story says that Gittens agreed to a seven-year deal with Chelsea in early June, but Dortmund turned down a £42 million offer, thus neither team was able to reach an agreement before the first transfer window ended on June 10. This week, the two teams talked in the United States when both were playing in the Club World Cup. The conversations have picked up speed in the last several days.

The 20-year-old was Chelsea’s top choice to replace Jadon Sancho, who went back to Manchester United after his loan term. He is scheduled to have a medical at the Premier League club.

FIFA rules say that only two players can be added to squads in the Club World Cup. Because Gittens came off the bench against Fluminense in the group stage, he will not be eligible to play for Chelsea in the tournament because he is cup-tied.

Chelsea would have made four summer signings if they had signed Gittens. They had already signed striker Liam Delap, defender Mamadou Sarr, and midfielder Dario Essugo. Midfielder Andrey Santos also returned to the team after a loan spell at Strasbourg.

Chelsea is also interested in signing João Pedro from Brighton, and Newcastle is in the running for him. The West London club wants to improve their attacking options. Chelsea is also interested in Hugo Ekitike of Eintracht Frankfurt and Mohammed Kudus of West Ham.