There is a lot of talk about who the new Chelsea FC owners might be, what plans they might have, whether they will do the stadium rebuild, and how they will run the club.
None of us yet know who the new owners will be, but there is one thing that they need to prioritise as well as all the commonly spoken about subjects, and that is the new contract of academy forward Harvey Vale.
The young rising star got more minutes in Thomas Tuchel’s senior team on Saturday against Middlesbrough in the FA Cup quarter-finals, and he is a player with a huge future ahead of him. The new owners need to do all they can to make sure that future is with Chelsea.
We had heard whispers before Chelsea went up for sale that the current establishment were trying to extend the contract of Vale, but obviously you’d imagine that all contract talks and transfer plans right now are put on hold until the new owners have their feet firmly under the table.
But Vale will have just a year remaining on his deal this summer, so we need to make sure we treat new contract talks with him as absolute priority. His quality is too high to allow him to go elsewhere, and if he doesn’t have a future at Chelsea, he will certainly be doing it at another top club, I have no doubts.
He’s a special kind of player and is very versatile. His style of play actually really suits Tuchel’s Chelsea, and he obviously rates him as well having him train regularly in the senior squad recently. So, you’d imagine that Tuchel really wants Vale to stay as well.
Of course, there will be many pressing issues to address for the new owners, but player contracts such as Vale mustn’t be put on the backburner.