Premier League giants Chelsea have made a transfer decision on talented Nigerian forward Tyrique George following his promotion to the first team on a permanent basis.

The Blues confirmed on Wednesday that the London-born Nigerian winger has made the transition from the Academy to the first team, following in the footsteps of the likes of Fikayo Tomori, Tammy Abraham, Ola Aina and Eddie Newton, all of whom rose through the youth ranks to earn promotion to Chelsea first team.

George traveled with Chelsea's first team to the United States for pre-season preparations, where he featured in matches against Wrexham, Celtic and Club America.

The 18-year-old debuted for Chelsea's senior team in a UEFA Conference League qualifier against Servette FC in August and has since made seven additional appearances for the first team.

George is behind Pedro Neto, Noni Madueke, Mykhailo Mudryk, Christopher Nkunku and Jadon Sancho in manager Enzo Maresca's pecking order of forwards.

However, the Italian football tactician wants him, Marc Guiu and Josh Acheampong to remain at Chelsea, rather than being loaned out to a club where they are guaranteed more playing time during the January transfer window.

"With young players like Marc, like Josh, like Tyrique, for me, the best thing for them is to be with us because they can understand every day the way we want to play," Maresca told reporters at Friday's press conference.

"They can grow, we can teach them how we want them to play so I think it's better if they stay with us.

"But then it depends a little bit also the desire of the players. If in this case Marc, his desire is to get more minutes and to play more, we sit with him and we decide together."

George, who joined Chelsea at U8 level, signed a new three-year deal in the summer, with a club option for the 2027-2028 season.

Ifeanyi Emmanuel