Chelsea youngster close to finalising transfer as club look to avoid last season repeat

Harvey Vale is close to finalising a season-long loan move to League One club Bristol Rovers, football.london understands.

The 19-year-old attacker, who has just less than two years remaining on his contract with Chelsea, is once again set to be loaned out in order to get more minutes elsewhere. Vale spent last season on loan at Hull City but was recalled in January after struggling to get minutes under Liam Rosenior.

Now, Vale looks set to move to Bristol Rovers – managed by former Premier League midfielder Joey Barton. Rovers have drawn their first two matches of the 2023/24 season and are set to welcome Vale to the club to improve their attacking options.

Chelsea will be hoping to avoid a repeat of last season's loan for Vale where he struggled to get regular minutes. The England Under-20s international, who signed his first professional contract at Chelsea in September 2020, made his senior debut in the quarter-final of the Carabao Cup in December 2021, starting in a 2-0 win against Brentford.

Vale was not the only academy player involved on that day. The youngster, when speaking to Chelsea's official website last year, admitted that playing alongside a group he knew so well eased the nerves of his first-team debut.

«Definitely. It's always nice coming over from the Academy as a group,» the teenager said. «It can be scary if you come by yourself. I was speaking to one of the other boys with me and he said if he came over by himself, he wouldn't know where to go, so as a group you can stick together and you feel a bit more at home.

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»There's a few times when I've come in by myself and everyone did make me feel welcome but it's nice to