Latest Chelsea transfer news as agent Craig Butler takes to social media to announce Newcastle United and Aston Villa target Dujuan ‘Whisper’ Richards has signed for the Blues
Chelsea have reportedly sealed the signing of Dujuan 'Whisper' Richards.
According to Craig Butler, who runs the Phoenix FC football academy in January, Richards has signed a pre-contract agreement with the Blues. Butler, the adoptive father of Aston Villa and Jamaica star Leon Bailey, took to social media platform Instagram to announce the apparent deal with Chelsea.
Richards, 17, has been with Phoenix for the past five years and recently got a call-up to the Jamaica senior team for games against Trinidad and Tobago this month. The player had a two-week trial at Newcastle United in February and had also been linked with a move to Villa.
Richards had even attended a Newcastle game, the match with West Ham United at the start of last month, but has now put pen-to-paper on an agreement with Chelsea according to Butler. "We are grateful to Chelsea Football Club and look forward to the continued relationship and partnership with our academy as we prepare Whisper for the Premier League," Butler wrote on Instagram.
"On a personal note, Chelsea FC was my boyhood dream club and I'm so pleased to have one of my players built in the furnaces of the Phoenix at Stamford Bridge.
"Thank you to the staff at Chelsea, especially Joe Shields for believing me two years ago when I told him that I was building the top talent, Dujuan "Whisper" Richards."
Richards made waves in Jamaica when he bagged 31 goals and registered 19 assists for Phoenix last season. He is familiar with his new home, too, having played against Aston Villa, Sheffield United and Crystal Palace in academy games while he has also been on the books of Brooke House College in Leicestershire.
Richards, from Port Royal in southeastern Jamaica and who has an English grandmother, recently declined a lucrative approach from a Middle Eastern club according to ChronicleLive.
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