Tino Livramento looks set to join Southampton.
Marc Guehi has signed for Crystal Palace.
Lewis Bate has left for Leeds.
Are Chelsea repeating mistakes of the past, or shrewdly shipping off academy products to help fund their first team?
History repeating itself?
The reality may take years to become clear, but history tells us that the club have previous in letting players go prematurely.
Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah and Romelu Lukaku have all gone on to have stellar careers since leaving west London, and the Blues might live to rue these departures too.
To most judges, Livramento has been one of the academy's best players in recent times.
The 18-year-old registered three goals and six assists from the right side of defence in Chelsea's Premier League 2 side last term, and he has represented England at every level from U16 to U19.
Yes he has Reece James and Cesar Azpilicueta ahead of him in the Chelsea first team, but with the latter nearing the end of his career, was there not a path there for him to get minutes?
Perhaps with Callum Hudson-Odoi also featuring there last term, coach Thomas Tuchel was happy to sanction his exit.
The decision on Guehi follows a similar line but is perhaps even more questionable.
Why, for example, are the club working so hard to bring in Jules Kounde?
Was it not worth seeing if Guehi could build on his promise, particularly when Thiago Silva and Azpilicueta are in their latter years? Do Fikayo Tomori's showings for AC Milan not show that these youngsters are good enough?
These players know the club and buy you time with a fanbase that love to see homegrown players come through.
And what do these sales do for the morale of the youth team coaches, who see other clubs benefit from all their years of hard work?
Clearly Chelsea's squad depth is one of the best in the world, and there will always be cases where young players have to leave to progress, particularly given the sheer weight of talent that comes through at Cobham.
And it's certainly positive that these youngsters feel more able than some of their predecessors to cut the chord and leave permanently in search of their full potential, rather than dot about on loans for years on end.
The case of Lukaku is a salient place to end.
The Belgian was never really given a fair crack of the whip at Chelsea, but he has gone on to become one of the world's best strikers.
And now? Chelsea are back in for him, a transfer that would set them back over 100 million euros and break their transfer record.
The Blues will hope they won't be in a similar position years down the line with their recent departures.
Lanabdeikp
140
These academy players leaving the club are afraid they might not make it in the first team and those ready and up for the challenge with the likes of broja and Sar are staying to follow up in the foot step of mount and James..... Chelsea are too fair because it's not every academy player will make it in the first team and we can't play them all......They are leaving because they understand the level of competition wherever they are going....... All the best to every Chelsea academy player🙌
Moe-Km
17
Here's the thing. These young players don't usually flourish until they leave the team for somewhere they can play week in and week out. A loan move is NOT the same. They go on loan with the intention of impressing a different team than who they're playing for. they know it's short term and the commitment to growth isn't the same. If they make a permanent move, play lots of games, then they would get the motivation to try to grow as much as possible and impress big teams to seal a proper move. For example Loftus Cheek would have been a much better player if let's say he moved to West Ham a few years ago. He would have probably made a big money move to a top team by now. But the comfort of having that contract with a big team already takes away from the motivation and the commitment. Reality is harsh. If we want to repeat our European triumph, then our focus should be on first team squad depth and bringing top world class players, not relying on one of our kids impressing. The frank lampard situation with the transfer ban opened up a rare window for our top academy players to feature for the first team because they were our only options.