Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer confirmed to Sky Sports News that Angel Gomes will now leave the club on a free transfer.
This comes after a new contract has not been agreed between the club and the player.
The Independent claim that the England youth international has rejected a contract extension worth £25,000 per week.
Gomes is a relative of former United star Nani but has found game time hard to come by in midfield.
He has appeared five times for Solskjaer’s side this year across the Europa League and Premier League and has an average match rating of 6.54, according to WhoScored.com.
He became known for his technical ability and flair in midfield. The 19-year-old first appeared in the Premier League under Jose Mourinho on the final day of the 2016/17 season.
Since then, however, he has failed to kick on and has seen opportunities come few and far between. This is partly due to the arrivals of Bruno Fernandes and Fred to bolster United’s options going forward from midfield.
As reported by The Daily Star, Chelsea would be willing to agree on a deal for the youngster. Frank Lampard has worked on assembling a younger Chelsea squad than has been seen in previous seasons and the acquisition of Gomes certainly fits that mould.
With the imminent departure of Angel Gomes from the United ranks, has the Manchester United academy system become a conveyor belt for the rest of the Premier League?
Could he succeed elsewhere?
The Premier League is littered with former United academy stars who have gone on to forge excellent careers away from the club.
Ben Foster, Tom Heaton, Michael Keane and Joshua King are all excellent examples of players who have made huge improvements after being deemed surplus to requirements at United.
They all made great progress in the top flight of English football at Watford, Burnley and Bournemouth respectively.
Should Gomes make the move to Stamford Bridge he could potentially link up with former United academy graduate Danny Drinkwater. He made the move to Chelsea from Leicester for £34.11m (source: Transfermarkt.com) in 2017.
This big-money move for Drinkwater came after he shone alongside N’Golo Kante in the middle of Leicester’s midfield during their title-winning campaign of 2015/16.
As far as shining elsewhere is concerned the door is also never shut on a return to United as Paul Pogba proved when he made a then world-record return to the club in 2016.
A move to a fellow Premier League side could see Gomes follow in the footsteps of many former United academy stars and provide a kickstart to a career that had shown much promise at youth level but stalled due to a lack of first-team action.
It is certainly within the capabilities of Gomes to make United regret not doing more to urge him to stay.