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Chelsea are keen to avoid past mistakes and have offered one of their highly promising young players a new deal, even though his existing contract has more than a year to run.
Attacking midfielder Harvey Vale, who is 18, is currently under contract to the end of next season. But the club have already opened talks about extending his deal, keen to ensure that they do not suffer the same fate as they have experienced with the likes of Tino Livramento, another highly rated youngster who chose to leave the club in search of regular first-team football.
Already as a demonstration of the faith the club have in him, Vale was invited to train with the first-team squad ahead of their Champions League tie with Malmo on Tuesday night.
And he was in the contingent that flew to Sweden and sat on the bench, although he remained an unused substitute.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.