Chelsea ordered to pay Brighton £7.7m for academy sensations signed in 2022

Chelsea have been ordered to pay Premier League rivals Brighton up to £7.7million for academy starlets Zak Sturge and Shumaira Mheuka.

The Professional Football Compensation Committee has decided that compensation will be paid for the duo following a hearing on Tuesday last week.

Chelsea raided the Seagulls – not for the first time – for Sturge and Mheuka in the summer of 2022 but the two clubs could not agree the compensation fees and a tribunal has had to settle the cases.

Football Insider reports that the Stamford Bridge outfit will pay an initial £900,000 fee for 19-year-old Sturge rising to a potential £3.4million with add-ons.

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As part of those add-ons, Brighton will be due £150,000 if and when the defender makes his Blues debut, plus a further £250,000 if he eventually plays for England.

The south coast club will also receive up to £2.1million if the full-back makes up to 100 first-team appearances at Chelsea – as well as 20% of any future sale.

The news on Sturge comes after it was revealed that Brighton will receive a record fee for a 14-year-old after Chelsea were ordered to pay a potential £4.25m for Mheuka.

Football Insider adds that the Londoners have been told to pay an initial fee of £1million for the striker, now 16, with the rest of the fee due in appearance-based add-ons.

Brighton will also be due a percentage of Mheuka’s next sale, believed to be between 20-25%.

Left-back Sturge spent the first half of the 2023-24 campaign out on loan at League One side Peterborough United but was recalled last month.

Meanwhile, England Under-17 striker Mheuka is regarded by Chelsea as a big talent with huge potential and is already prolific for both club and country at youth level.

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