Chelsea and Marseille in talks to establish informal loan arrangement for Blues starlets

Chelsea are in talks with Marseille with a view to establishing an informal loan arrangement with the French club.

Marseille president Vincent Labrune attended the second leg of Chelsea’s FA Youth Cup victory over Manchester City earlier this month and afterwards had dinner with Michael Emenalo, Chelsea’s technical director.

“I told him a club like Marseille was very interested to build something with a club like Chelsea and have some of the young players on loan,” Labrune told The Independent in Marseille this week. “Players who have big potential but cannot get into the first team in the Premier League, they come here on loan and the English club pays part of the salary.”

Chelsea have in recent years loaned players to Dutch club Vitesse as part of a co-operation agreement (Wallace, Josh McEachran and Bertrand Traore are there at present). However, the Eredivisie has not proved a successful stepping stone for the Premier League.

Any deal with Marseille would be more informal but could be more beneficial. Not only is the French league – which is televised here by BT Sport - of a higher standard, Marseille’s atmospheric Stade Veldrome is the type of venue that tests a young players’ ability to handle pressure.

“I can’t tell you the names of the Chelsea players,” added Labrune, before revealing that he had three in mind, one of whom is Charly Musonda.

The 18-year-old Musonda is the Belgian-born son of a former Zambian international, also named Charly, who played for Belgian club Anderlecht. Already been called up by his countries’ under-21 side he is also interesting Monaco and Paris Saint-Germain.

Jeremie Boga, an 18-year-old French midfielder is likely to be another potential loan recruit for Marseille who kept alive their hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League with a dramatic victory over Monaco on Sunday.

One player who will not be leaving Chelsea for the Cote D’Azur is Didier Drogba. The Ivorian played for Marseille before he first joined Chelsea in 2004, his goals taking the club to the Uefa Cup final. However, Labrune said: “Drogba is an idol at OM, a living legend, but in terms of salary it’s not possible.”

Leaving Marseille is Liverpool-target Andre Ayew with the club giving up hope of persuading him to stay. Roma are favourites to sign the 25-year-old Ghanaian with Liverpool’s chances diminishing with their failure to secure a Champions League place.

Labrune said: “We can't keep Ayew. He is a very important player for OM but we can't offer him the kind of money English clubs can offer. The French financial system is complicated and we can't offer him an equivalent salary to what he can earn in England.

“And equally, we can't ask Ayew, who we love and is an icon of our team, to accept a lower salary. That makes no sense so unfortunately he is going to quit the club and we hope he has the great career that he deserves in England or somewhere else.”

BT Sport brings fans exclusively live games from France’s Ligue 1 every week as part of a European football line-up that includes the UEFA Europa League, Germany’s Bundesliga, Italy’s Serie A and Portugal’s Premeira Liga