French defensive midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu (21) is nearing a deal with Chelsea FC and Valencia CF to go on loan to Mestalla for the 2025–2026 season. According to L’Equipe, the La Liga team is negotiating a loan deal for the 21-year-old midfielder with the Blues, who are presently competing in the FIFA Club World Cup and will face Fluminense in the semifinals.
Two years ago, Chelsea paid €27 million to recruit Ugochukwu from Rennes, a formative club. For the Blues, the defensive midfielder made just 15 appearances. The 2024–2025 Premier League season was spent at Southampton, where he participated in 31 games. Due to a lengthy contract that is scheduled to end in 2030, Ugochukwu is still bound to Chelsea.
The France Under-21s player is currently preferred to be sold by Chelsea, though, particularly if they can draw in a sizable bidder.
Chelsea set to loan Lesley Ugochukwu to Valencia
Chelsea is particularly wary of foreign loans since, according to new regulations put in place in 2024, Fifa has limited all teams to just six of these loans outside of their home divisions. Therefore, if the first two are not met, a sale is preferable, a local loan is the second priority, and an overseas loan is probably only going to be approved later in the window.
Similar circumstances exist for players not participating in the Club World Cup, such as Raheem Sterling, Ben Chilwell, Joao Felix, Renato Veiga, Armando Broja, and Djordje Petrovic, as well as Dortmund loanee Carney Chukwuemeka.
However, Fabrizio Romano reports that Chelsea is not interested in a loan for the 21-year-old, so that latter allegation might be a little unrealistic. Our “priority” at this early point in the transfer window is undoubtedly a permanent transfer with some real money in exchange for our £23 million investment.
Let’s see if our wheelers and traders can come up with anything better, as Romano says that several Premier League clubs are “keen” on Ugochukwu.
