Chelsea’s first signings of the Nike era have average age of 25 years old

Chelsea welcomed the Nike era by signing Willy Caballero and Ethan Ampadu. Take the average of their ages and you have a player entering his prime years of footballing.

Chelsea opened the summer transfer window by adding two players who may very well never play a Premier League game in the new Nike kits unveiled Saturday. They first confirmed they signed Willy Caballero upon expiration of his contract with Manchester City. Exeter City announced earlier that Ethan Ampadu will leave the League Two side to join the Blues.

Despite the Nike contract being one of the most lucrative in all of sports – and that Chelsea have already sold over £120 million worth of players in 2017 – the Blues’ spent a negligible amount on these signings. Caballero was out of contract so he cost nothing. Chelsea and Exeter City are still negotiating Ampadu’s fee, which will not actually be a transfer fee.

For you see, Ethan Ampadu is 16 years old and never even signed a scholarship contract at Exeter. Similar to Dominic Solanke’s situation, Chelsea will pay Exeter “compensation” for Ampadu since he came from their academy. The two clubs hope to agree on a price without need for a tribunal.

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Exeter will likely do their best to insert sell-on and performance clauses into Ethan Ampadu’s transfer. If Chelsea develop him through their academy and loan system as they have so many players before they will reap a profit of at least seven-figures. Exeter will want a percent of that for having progressed Ampadu to where he attracted Chelsea’s eye as a teenager.

Ethan Ampadu played in 13 League Two games last season. He became Exeter’s youngest-ever first team player just shy of his 16th birthday.

Despite his senior-level experience, he will play in the academy for the next few years. This may bring him face-to-face against his former club in the Checkatrade Trophy (not to be confused with the Carabao Cup, which in turn should not be confused with Caribou Coffee).

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Willy Caballero will likely be well into retirement or Major League Soccer before Ethan Ampadu makes the Blues’ senior squad, if ever. Ampadu is hopefully understanding his career path by looking at Bertrand Traore, Nathan Ake and Dominic Solanke. Moving to Chelsea improves his chances of playing top-tier football. It says little about his chances of playing on Chelsea’s first team.