An incredible XI of academy graduates Chelsea have made £322.8m profit on | OneFootball

Chelsea have one of the strongest academies in England – but plenty of talents slip through the net.

That hasn’t been too much of a problem for the Chelsea board, though, since they’ve been able to make big profits on their academy products.

We’ve put together a lineup of Chelsea academy graduates with how much they made on them. All fees include add-ons.

GK: Marcin Bulka – Free

OK, it’s not a particularly strong start here. Even after scanning through Transfermarkt, we couldn’t find any academy keeper Chelsea have made money on. That’s quite strange.

But this XI needs a goalie and so we’ve stuck one in that they let go for free.

Bulka joined Chelsea’s academy as a 16-year-old, twice winning the U18 Premier League and FA Youth Cup.

But he was released in 2019, going on to be picked up by PSG. A series of loans led to a permanent move to Nice for €2m in 2022, before a €15m move to Neom SC in the Saudi Pro League three years later.

RB: Fikayo Tomori – £25m

Tomori was one of the beneficiaries of Frank Lampard’s appointment by Chelsea in 2019, having played for the manager on loan at Derby the season before.

But he struggled to establish himself consistently in the Chelsea lineup to the same extent of some of his other academy graduate teammates who were getting a chance.

(Just like he can’t even get in his natural position in this lineup, having to fit in at right-back rather than centre-back).

Tomori eventually moved on to AC Milan and was a massive hit during his loan spell, leading to a permanent £25m move. He’s still at Milan now, more than 200 games later, but whether he stays this summer is up for question.

If you were looking for a more natural right-back, then we owe an honourable mention to Tino Livramento, who left Chelsea for Southampton in a £4m deal that later rose to £19.5m thanks to a sell-on clause when he moved to Newcastle.

CB: Trevoh Chalobah – £30.8m

The time has finally come for Chalobah to move on from Chelsea – and it’s for a decent fee.

Chalobah has felt close to the exit door a few times before, but has clung on to a place in Chelsea’s plans. Since being recalled from a loan spell with Palace in January 2025, he played more than 70 times.

But he’s now becoming a Como player for an initial £25.7m, rising to £30.8m with add-ons.

The move to Italy is his second venture abroad after a previous loan stint in France with Lorient.

CB: Marc Guehi – £20m

The one that got away.

Given what he’s gone on to achieve since, Guehi is probably the player in this XI that Chelsea will most regret letting go – even if they decided not to make the most of their right to match any future bids received by his next club Crystal Palace.

The £20m fee they banked for him in 2021 looked steep, since it was mainly based on what he’d done on loan in the Championship with Swansea.

But it was money well spent by Palace, who saw Guehi blossom into captain material and made their money back with his £20m sale to Manchester City in January.

That fee would have been a lot higher had the England international not been six months away from the end of his contract; Palace had valued him at £35m just a few months before.

A 20% sell-on clause in the original Guehi deal put some extra money back into Chelsea’s pockets.

LB: Ian Maatsen – £37.5m

Joining Chelsea as a 16-year-old from PSV in 2018, Maatsen matured in the academy for a year before making his senior debut in September 2019.

The left-back went out on loan three times before he played for Chelsea again, and then another 15 appearances later, he left on a fourth loan spell to Borussia Dortmund.

By the end of that 2023-24 season, the Dutchman was being sold to Aston Villa for a fee rising to £37.5m. He’s since played 89 times for Villa.

CM: Lewis Hall – £35m

Hall was another option at left-back, where he’s best known for playing now, but he was just as much a midfielder when coming through the Chelsea ranks.

There was some remorse when Chelsea gave him up in 2023 so he could join Newcastle on loan, but family ties to the Magpies made it hard to deny his wishes.

After the loan, Newcastle had an obligation to buy Hall for £28m, rising to £35m with add-ons.

If you wanted a more fixed midfielder instead of Hall, take Ruben Loftus-Cheek for £18m – like AC Milan did in 2023.

CM: Conor Gallagher – £34m

This one stung. Not only did Chelsea lose a homegrown player who always gave 100%, but they had to take Joao Felix back in return for even more money.

In their defence, Chelsea were backed into a corner with Gallagher’s contract situation, which led to his sale to Atletico Madrid in 2024.

His side of the part-exchange deal was worth £34m, a fee Atletico made a slight profit on when he returned to the Premier League with Spurs 18 months later.

CM: Mason Mount – £60m

The most expensive academy product Chelsea have sold, Mount was the crown jewel of the group that Lampard bedded into his first team in 2019.

Like Tomori, Mount had played for Lampard on loan at Derby. The attacking midfielder went on to be named Chelsea’s player of the season for 2020-21 and 2021-22.

But he suffered a downturn in fortunes the following season, which turned out to be his last at Chelsea.

Manchester United committed to a £55m deal, rising to £60m, for Mount, but it has all been downhill since then – as illustrated by the fact he hasn’t added to his 36 England caps since the move.

Injuries have done big damage to Mount’s progress since the move, so Chelsea probably cashed in at the right time.

RW: Omari Hutchinson – £22.5m

You could argue Arsenal’s academy coaches did most of the hard work with Hutchinson’s development, but his move to Chelsea in 2022 on a free transfer was actually a return to the blue part of London after four years on the books before he was a teenager.

Hutchinson spent most of the 2022-23 season playing for Chelsea’s youth teams, making just two senior appearances along the way.

An impressive loan spell with Ipswich Town, who he helped win promotion to the Premier League, led to a permanent move in a club-record deal for the Tractor Boys.

Ipswich themselves flipped a profit with Hutchinson, selling him to Nottingham Forest for £37.5m a year later.

LW: Tyrique George – £24m

George didn’t exactly light it up on loan at Everton, but they were still happy to make his move permanent for £24m this summer.

The winger had previously scored six goals from 37 games for Chelsea, but failed to find the net from the 11 appearances of his loan spell.

CF: Tammy Abraham – £34m

Abraham grasped his chance to return as Chelsea’s number nine in 2019 after winning promotion with Aston Villa while on loan.

But Thomas Tuchel didn’t seem as fond of him as Lampard had been, so the striker’s gametime dropped.

Jose Mourinho came to Abraham’s rescue by making him Roma’s marquee signing in 2021. Abraham went on to score 27 goals in his first season in Italy, winning the Conference League.

Chelsea had arranged a buyback clause worth twice as much as what they’d received from Roma for Abraham, but he lost his way after that sensational first season in Italy and so it never looked like good value by the time it became active.