Jamie Gittens ‘signs’ for Chelsea this summer as he helps the Blues win a trophy

Enzo Maresca has confirmed that Chelsea will sign a new left-winger this summer, with Borussia Dortmund’s Jamie Gittens a top target for the Blues.

After opting against signing Jadon Sancho on a permanent deal from Manchester United, Chelsea are on the lookout for a new left-winger ahead of the new season. With Mykhailo Mudryk still unavailable, it leaves Pedro Neto, Noni Madueke and Tyrique George as the Blues’ only options on the left, with Dortmund’s Gittens one of the players on Maresca’s shortlist this summer.

Chelsea had a £42million bid for the Dortmund winger rejected ahead of the Club World Cup, with the German side holding out for at least £50million, football.london understands. Gittens played for Reading and Manchester City at youth level before moving to Dortmund in 2020, with the Englishman scoring 12 goals across all competitions for the Black and Yellow last season.

So, could Gittens be the player Maresca is looking for if he signed for Chelsea this summer? Let’s take a look.

Chelsea’s 2025/26 season simulated with Jamie Gittens

To set up this simulation, we used Football Manager 2024 to move Gittens to Chelsea in the summer transfer window before simulating the 2025/26 season.

Maresca made the Premier League his priority for Gittens, with the winger only appearing in cup competitions in the latter stages. In his first season at the club, the 20-year-old made 31 appearances across all competitions while putting up some impressive numbers.

Gittens managed to grab eight goals and eight assists across all competitions while averaging a rating of 7.21 per game. Only Cole Palmer (8) managed the same number of assists as Gittens in the Chelsea squad, with the Englishman being used much more for his creativity than his goalscoring ability.

At the end of the 2025/26 season, Football Manager 2024 put together an overall best Chelsea XI, based on performances, statistics, and other metrics. This is what it looked like:

Full Chelsea best XI: (4-3-3): Sanchez; James, Fofana, Colwill, Cucurella; Lavia, Caicedo, Fernandez; Palmer, Jackson, Gittens.

Gittens made Chelsea’s best XI from the simulation, with the winger being joined by Palmer and Nicolas Jackson in the front three, with the latter scoring 17 goals across all competitions. The switch to a 4-3-3 allowed Maresca to play Romeo Lavia, Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo together more often, making the Blues more solid in the middle.

With Gittens in the squad and the change of formation, Chelsea were much-improved at both ends of the pitch, with Maresca’s side ending the Premier League season with the third-best attack and the second-best defence. Chelsea were good enough to ease their way to a top-four finish, but there was no title battle, with Arsenal and City battling it out instead.

24 wins, seven draws and seven defeats saw Chelsea end the season in third, 12 points behind Arsenal in second and 10 ahead of Liverpool in fourth. Their points tally of 79 was also 10 more than the previous season, showing the improvement made.

Chelsea’s Champions League campaign wasn’t the most memorable, with the Blues finishing 12th in the League Phase to set up a Round of 16 playoff clash against Inter. After a 1-1 draw at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea lost 1-0 in the second leg as they crashed out on aggregate.

But, there was a trophy in the simulation, and Maresca had Gittens to thank for it. After not featuring throughout the whole competition, Gittens was made a starter for the Carabao Cup final, and two goals from the Englishman helped Chelsea beat Arsenal 2-1 to win the cup.