Official: Chelsea sign striker Patrick Bamford from Nottingham Forest for fee which could rise to £1m

The Blues secure a deal to bring the 18-year-old to Stamford Bridge despite contract offer from Forest described as the most 'lucrative they had ever offered a player of his age'

1 Feb 2012 00:51:00

By Simon Sinclair

More On :  Chelsea FC, Nottingham Forest, Patrick Bamford
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Chelsea have completed the signing of striker Patrick Bamford from Nottingham Forest for a fee which could rise to £1 million.

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The 18-year-old has penned a long-term contract at Stamford Bridge despite having made just two first-team appearances for Forest and will join the Blues' reserve squad.

Nottingham Forest released a statement revealing they had offered the striker the biggest deal ever put forward by the club for a player his age, however this was not enough to keep the youngster at the City Ground.

A statement on the club’s official website said: "Bamford's current Forest contract was due to expire this summer and despite being offered the most lucrative contract ever tabled by the Reds for a player of his age, his representatives had indicated he would not re-sign with the club.

"He travelled south for talks earlier today after Forest agreed a fee with Chelsea, before completing the formalities of his switch to Stamford Bridge. The fee Forest have negotiated with Chelsea includes a sell-on clause.”

Bamford caught the eye of the Chelsea scouts when scoring a hat-trick against the Blues in a youth-team friendly. He impressed further when netting five goals in an FA Youth Cup game against Wigan and a week later scored four against Southampton.

The striker’s involvement in Forest’s FA Youth Cup games leaves him cup-tied for the Blues' upcoming fixture against West Ham in the competition.

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Unfortunately for Northern Ireland, they are trailing the Netherlands 4-0 at half-time. Looks like that one's all sewn up then.
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We're still getting plenty of Hazard chat on Twitter. A few are now saying that he's not worth the hype, others saying he was brilliant(!?) and others (which I agree with), saying he created much of his own hype. What do you think? Get involved!
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Joe Hart has also been giving his thoughts after the Belgium game: "It was a really tough game, a good run out. I thought we played well, [but] we were a little bit bitty at times.

"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.

"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
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Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."

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Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
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