Chelsea bans Liverpool and Manchester United from its games

Chelsea Football Club have banned the scouts of Manchester United and Liverpool from watching its youth games going forward into the season.

Dailymail confirmed that Chelsea have turned down accreditation requests for Liverpool talent after the Reds poached highly-rated 16-year-old Rio Ngumoha this summer. The Blues also banned Manchester United from Chelsea matches for trying to sign the England youth international.

There are also expectations that Liverpool would reciprocate the ban if Chelsea were to try to gain access to matches at the AXA Training Centre, though Anfield insiders have stressed they are relaxed about the situation.

However, this could fall foul of the Premier League's youth development rule 247, which stresses clubs must permit access to scouts of other clubs to youth matches if they apply for accreditation within good time, usually before midday on the last working day before the game, and present official identification.

Chelsea lost Ngumoha to Liverpool during the 2024 summer transfer window as his family saw a better pathway to the first team, highlighted by the amount of youth talent playing for the Reds.