Chelsea secure Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall from Leicester City

Chelsea have announced the signing of midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall from Leicester City.

Dewsbury-Hall has signed a five-year contract with the Blues, which includes an additional one-year option, and will join his new teammates for pre-season training.

"It is amazing to be sitting here as a Chelsea player," said Dewsbury-Hall. "This is a club people grow up watching and hoping to one day play for, so it is a privilege to be here. I’m really excited to get going and can’t wait to show everybody what I can do."

Dewsbury-Hall joined Leicester at the age of eight and made his senior debut in an FA Cup tie against Brentford in January 2020.

He had a successful loan spell at Blackpool in League One, scoring four goals in ten appearances, and then spent the 2020/21 season on loan at Luton Town in the Championship, where he made 40 appearances.

He became a key player for Leicester during the 2021/22 campaign, making 44 appearances across all competitions and earning a spot in the UEFA Europa Conference League Team of the Season after helping the Foxes reach the semi-finals.

Last season, Dewsbury-Hall played 49 times under Leicester's new head coach Enzo Maresca, scoring 12 goals and helping the team secure promotion to the Premier League.

He was named Leicester’s Supporters' Player of the Season, Players' Player of the Season, and was included in the Championship Team of the Year.

Reflecting on his move to Chelsea, Dewsbury-Hall said: "Last season was a positive year for me and I’m coming into this season feeling like a new player, full of confidence, full of motivation to get going."

"I don’t see a better fit than coming to Chelsea and testing myself against some top players and playing with top players. I am in a great space and I am really looking forward to getting going."

The Nottingham-born midfielder praised Maresca's impact on his development, noting how the coach helped him add more goals to his game.

"I think scoring more goals has been down to a combination of everything. I spoke to Enzo Maresca about adding more goals to my game and thought of methods to do it, and I have managed to do that. It was nice to get into double figures. That is something I will try to do again this year because I am an attacking player trying to make a difference in the final third of the pitch."

Dewsbury-Hall also spoke highly of Maresca's coaching style and personality.

"He completely changed the way Leicester wanted to play last season and we saw it worked. I personally fell in love with the way he wanted to play and I know a lot of the other lads did as well. He is a very unique character. He is very relentless and determined but he also has that nice, gentle side if he wants to talk to you as a human being."

Dewsbury-Hall is determined to secure more trophies for Chelsea.

"My hopes for the season, first and foremost, is to win some silverware. That is an aim for this club and we are in plenty of competitions this season where we can try to do that. So that is priority number one."