Exeter City teen moves to Premiership

Ben Chrisene is another SJP success

A 16-year-old Exeter City FC academy player is joining Premiership club Aston Villa. 

Ben Chrisene started at the Devon club aged just 11. Now he's heading to the Midlands for an undisclosed fee.

The young midfielders has already been capped at both under 15 and under 16 levels for England.

Manager Matt Taylor admits it is disappointing for supporters that they didn’t get to see more of the youngster in action. “Ben goes with our best wishes,” said Matt. “He has gone to a Premier League Club, which we are delighted about. However, it is a shame that we are losing our players before we get the chance to really work with them.

“We had to balance Ben’s final year in school with his training, within the first team environment, and his availability for fixtures. So, the move is a great reflection on the work the academy and first team coaches have done in terms of developing young players, but is a shame for the fans because they haven’t really seen Ben Chrisene play.

“He got a couple of minutes in a home league fixture and came on late in the cup game against Coventry, but he hasn’t had enough appearances to get any relationship with the fans. That is a real shame because it is part and parcel of our club and the fans want to see the young talent coming through.”

Speaking about the fee itself, president and director of football and external affairs, Julian Tagg praised Aston Villa for their professional approach and fairness during the transfer dealing. “Whilst the fee is undisclosed, when a possible arbitration fee is considered we are pleased with the valuation,” he said. “Aston Villa have been very professional and fair in their dealings with Exeter City and we as a club would like to acknowledge that." 

That's a stab at Chelsea, the Premier club that took Exeter's last teen star Ethan Ampadu. Although the club received £1.3 million, the Professional  Football Compensation Committee decided only a further £1.25 million could come Exeter's way from future appearances, staged at £250,000 payments for every ten games Ampadu played following their judgement. The club was hugely disappointed with that level of compensation, believing the player to be one of their greatest prodigies. Ampadu, who is coming up to his twentieth birthday spent the 2019/20 season on loan from Chelsea at German club RB Leipzig.

Of the move of Ben Chrisene, Mr Tagg says: “We must of course thank our coaching staff, in the academy and the first team environment, for their continued excellent work in producing players of such high quality, but also recognise the hard work and dedication both Ben and his family have shown whilst he has been part of academy and first team set-up.

“Ben is a talented footballer, but also one who works hard and is dedicated to learning and improving. Therefore, he deserves all the success he gets, and we wish him well at Aston Villa and hope he goes onto have a long and successful career at the top of the game.”