Chelsea have reportedly determined how they plan to use Mathis Amougou across the next 18 months.
On Monday afternoon, reports emerged that Chelsea have chosen to press ahead with the acquisition of the Saint-Etienne youngster.
As it stands, a €15m (£12.5m) deal is yet to be formally announced by either of the two clubs, yet there is an expectation that it will go through.
Amougou will arrive at Stamford Bridge with just 19 senior matches under his belt, 17 of which have come in this season's Ligue 1.
However, according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, who was commenting on X, it appears that Chelsea already have a concrete plan in place for the latest phase of his development.
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How will Chelsea use Amougou?
Romano says that the 19-year-old will spend the next three months training with the first-team squad at Chelsea's Cobham training ground.
Chelsea are hopeful it will benefit the player in the future, rather than preferring to keep him playing regularly in France's top flight.
Nevertheless, it has allegedly already been decided that Amougou will spend the 2025-26 campaign on loan at fellow BlueCo-owned club Strasbourg.
As many as three Chelsea players are able to be loaned out to the French outfit, with Amougou essentially earmarked as a direct alternative to Andrey Santos who is currently at Le Racing.
Santos is in line to be recalled to the Chelsea senior squad for next season having emerged as one of the top-performing midfielders in Ligue 1 this season.
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An important role to play this season?
With Chelsea in three different competitions, it is realistic to expect that Enzo Maresca may choose to call upon Amougou at some stage over the next four months.
Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall are Chelsea's only three central midfielders; Trevoh Chalobah can also be used there if required.
Although the expectation is that Amougou will be handed a period to acclimatise to life at Chelsea, he may be viewed as an option on the substitutes' bench, like Cesare Casadei was before joining Torino.
Amougou has 858 minutes of Ligue 1 football under his belt this season, last completing 90 minutes in a 1-1 draw with Auxerre on January 24.
Darren Plant
