BVB News: Dortmund agrees with Chelsea on Gittens transfer

After tough negotiations, Jamie Gittens will move from Borussia Dortmund to English Premier League club Chelsea. All parties involved agreed to this at the Club World Cup in Fort Lauderdale, the Bundesliga club announced. Contract details are still to be finalized, the club added.

The contract details are still to be finalized, it was further stated. However, BVB will receive the desired €65 million for Gittens, who is being trained at the club's youth academy. A further €7 million is also in the pipeline for French defensive talent Soumaila Coulibaly. The 21-year-old is set to move to Racing Strasbourg.

Gittens had already completed his medical with the Blues last weekend. However, the 20-year-old Englishman subsequently returned to Dortmund's team headquarters in Fort Lauderdale because the agreement was dragging on.

“The talks with Chelsea were challenging, but ultimately we are happy that we can most likely realize our economic ideas and then have planning security,” said BVB sporting director Sebastian Kehl in a club statement.

BVB had asked for 65 million euros for Gittens. According to media reports, the English club will pay between 63.8 and 65 million euros to Borussia.

"His transfer back to his native England would be extremely valuable for us," said Dortmund's managing director Lars Ricken, adding: "We discovered Jamie very early on, signed him practically for free, developed him continuously in our youth academy and also offered him playing time at the very highest level with the professionals." His career is exemplary for the development of top talents at BVB.

With the realization of this transfer, the management expects a significant positive effect on the figures for the 2025/2026 financial year.

Selling Coulibaly would also be a financial success, as the talent never made the breakthrough at BVB, but still has a contract until 2026. Coulibaly joined Paris Saint-Germain's U19 side on a free transfer in January 2021 and was most recently loaned to Stade Brest. He has yet to play a single minute for Dortmund at the Club World Cup.

RND/dpa