Chelsea strike gold with £5m future signing making headlines at BlueCo-owned Strasbourg

Chelsea and BlueCo are delighted with the progress being made by Strasbourg winger Gessime Yassine, whose remarkable rise from amateur football to the World Cup has vindicated the club’s decision to move early for his signature, TEAMtalk understands.

Yassine was not developed by a professional academy and was playing for Istres in the fifth tier of French football only a couple of years ago before former Chelsea and Newcastle star Demba Ba spotted his potential.

Ba, who was then director of football and part-owner of Ligue 2 side Dunkerque, moved to bring Yassine to the club in 2024 and the winger quickly began to attract serious attention.

Yassine enjoyed a breakthrough campaign last season, registering three goals and eight assists in just 15 appearances and emerging as one of the most talked-about young players in French football outside Ligue 1.

TEAMtalk understands a host of clubs were alerted to his rapid rise, with Manchester City’s City Football Group and Red Bull among those looking to secure his signature.

Both were prepared to offer Yassine a clear and potentially quick route towards their senior sides, but BlueCo were also pushing strongly and ultimately won the race for the highly-rated winger.

Yassine joined Strasbourg for just £5million in January and was immediately thrown into first-team action, with his performances quickly accelerating his development and earning him a surprise place in Morocco’s World Cup squad.

The French-born winger subsequently wrote his name into the Moroccan record books when he scored his first international goal in a 4-2 World Cup victory over Haiti.

The strike made Yassine the youngest Moroccan player ever to score at a FIFA World Cup, doing so at the age of 20 years and 214 days.

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BlueCo-owned Yassine making waves in France

Having returned to France, Yassine has continued his impressive development this season, scoring two goals and providing an assist in his opening five games and attracting further attention with his performances.

Sources with knowledge of the situation have confirmed to TEAMtalk that BlueCo are extremely happy with Yassine’s progress and believe the £5million investment could prove significant given the trajectory of his career.

His journey from fifth-tier football with Istres to becoming a World Cup goalscorer has been remarkably rapid, but BlueCo believe there is still considerable room for development.

Chelsea’s multi-club model gives the group the opportunity to closely monitor Yassine’s progress at Strasbourg, with the winger now regarded as one of the most exciting young assets within their wider network.

The Blues, meanwhile, are back in action on October 10 when they host Bournemouth in the Premier League.

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