The Premier League published their annual list of players released (or set to leave for free at the end of their contracts) from each club yesterday, which included the confirmation that four Academy youngsters are heading out the door at the end of the month. Chelsea’s list was actually among the shortest of any team.
Those four are: Brodi Hughes, Richard Olise, Sam Rak-Sakyi, and Jimi Tauriainen.
Tauriainen is the only one to have not been at Cobham since an early age, joining at 16 in 2020 from
HJK Helsinki. His time at Chelsea has been marred by injuries unfortunately, though he did get a couple first-team appearances late in the season under Mauricio Pochettino in 2024 (one of the record* number of 20 players to make their debuts for the club that season — *not counting the club’s first season in existence). Those injuries have meant that the 22-year-old attacker never had the chance to even go on loan, so hopefully he lands somewhere where he can make up for some lost time.
Rak-Sakyi we might remember from a few impressive showings in the UEFA Conference League a couple seasons ago. Unfortunately, those four games remain the grand sum of the 21-year-old’s first-team appearances for Chelsea. He was not involved at all even for the U21 side after January this season, which is probably when it became evident that he was set to leave. Sam’s older brother, Jesurun, who left the Chelsea system in 2019, is on the books at Crystal Palace and recently made his senior international debut for Ghana after spending the back half of the season on loan at Stoke City in the Championship.
Speaking of older brothers, Richard Olise’s brother is international superstar Michael Olise. And like Michael, Richard’s now gone from Chelsea as well, though at a slightly older age (21 vs 14). The younger Olise, who battled and overcame some serious setbacks in his young career to even get this far, did make the matchday squad once, also in the UEFA Conference League in 2024, but the right back leaves with zero actual appearances for the first-team.
Brodi Hughes, 21, is perhaps the least known of the four, but he had been a steady presence in the backlines of Academy teams for over a decade. The 21-year-old joined AFC Wimbledon in League One on loan last summer, but injuries would limit him to just two appearances.
Good luck, everyone!
P.S.: The official list also includes 25-year-old goalkeeper James Hillson, but it would appear that he’s more of a coach already anyway, so I don’t think he’s going anywhere.
P.P.S.: The Chelsea website mentions that Ronnie Stutter has been retained on a month-to-month contract. The young striker is recovering from a long-term injury (or series of injuries).
