Updated: 8 May 2026 19:54 BST |<\/span> Cameron Smith Accredited sports journalist covering football since 2020 <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Chelsea reportedly remain relaxed about Shumaira Mheuka\u2019s long-term future at the club and are planning to hold contract extension talks with the England striker, potentially as soon as this summer.<\/p>\n The 18-year-old has been in immense form for Chelsea\u2019s academy sides this season, scoring 25 goals and providing four assists in 30 games, including 18 in the Premier League 2 – the most of any player in the competition.<\/p>\n Mheuka has regularly worn the captain\u2019s armband for Chelsea\u2019s U21 side this term, despite being three years younger than some of his peers, and he has made three first-team appearances (versus Lincoln City, Arsenal and Hull City) in 2025-26.<\/p>\n However, he is yet to be included in a Premier League matchday squad so far this season, despite the struggles of summer signing Liam Delap since arriving at Chelsea, while his first-team involvement has decreased significantly from last year.<\/p>\n Mheuka made five senior appearances for the Blues in 2024-25, including starting against FC Copenhagen in the Europa Conference League, but despite his goalscoring exploits in the academy, he has been unable to establish himself in the first-team set-up.<\/p>\n As a result, rumours of a potential exit have bubbled away, especially as his current contract at Chelsea is due to expire in 2027.<\/p>\n However, the Blues have the option to extend his deal by a further 12 months and The Athletic<\/b> have confirmed that both parties remain \u201crelaxed\u201d about the situation, with the Chelsea hierarchy planning to discuss a long-term extension with Mheuka\u2019s representatives shortly.<\/p>\n Mheuka, who became England U19s\u2019 all-time record goalscorer earlier this season with 16 strikes in 23 caps, was linked with a loan move in January, but Chelsea opted to keep him at the club in order to maintain his momentum in the academy.<\/p>\n A loan move has, however, been earmarked for this summer, with Mhueka likely to be offered the chance to gain valuable senior experience in order to further his development ahead of a potential return to the Chelsea first-team for the 2027-28 season.<\/p>\n It remains to be seen where Mheuka will be sent, although a move to League One or the Championship could potentially be wise given he will require consistent game time in order to adapt to senior football.<\/p>\n Joao Pedro told to leave Chelsea: ‘I would do everything to complete this transfer’<\/b><\/p>\n Emmanuel Emegha: Chelsea\u2019s ticking timebomb with \u2018main character\u2019 syndrome<\/b><\/p>\n Chelsea Transfer News Today: \u20ac90m striker wanted as Joao Pedro to Barcelona heats up<\/b><\/p>\n Check out FootballTransfers’ new app for all of football’s big storylines, transfer rumours and exclusive news in one convenient place directly on your mobile device.<\/p>\n The FootballTransfers app is available on Google Play and in the Apple App Store. Download here:<\/p>\n \u2022Google Play<\/b><\/p>\n \u2022App Store<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Updated: 8 May 2026 19:54 BST | 4 min read \u00a9 IMAGO Cameron Smith |…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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Chelsea to agree Shim Mheuka loan deal<\/h2>\n
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