George was promoted from the academy team to the first team on 19 December, six months after he and defender Josh Acheampong signed new deals in June 2024.
That decision to sign a three-year contract, plus an optional fourth year, raised eyebrows among multiple academy sources at Chelsea.
Internal talk was that he might get lost among £1bn of talent – including another summer influx of talented young forwards – signed since the change of ownership in 2022.
Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca gave George a chance in pre-season and sources say the Italian’s backing helped keep him at Stamford Bridge.
And FootballTransfers.com says George’s rapid progress has seen his estimated transfer value increase from £2m in December to more than £10m now.
George was first spotted by Chelsea playing for TFA Totteridge FC in Whetstone.
He signed up through their development centre programme before becoming a fully fledged academy player at the age of eight – taking a picture with then-first team breakthrough stars Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Lewis Baker on his signing day.
However, a source told BBC Sport that in those early years, George was a ‘middling’ player in his age group until around the age of 10.
It was at that point George’s dad hired a goalkeeper as well as a personal coach, David ‘Guru’ Sobers, to raise his game alongside his work at Chelsea.
In midweek, George would train with Chelsea and then from the age of 13 on Fridays, he would play against men in nine-a-side matches at either Vauxhall or Nine Elms Power League in South London.
On Saturdays, he would train again and go through post-match analysis with Sobers from his Power League matches the evening before, before going back to Chelsea on Sunday to play.
“I used to spend hours travelling on public transport to do two-hour sessions, or longer, with Tyrique as I thought I could help him,” Sobers told BBC Sport.
“We would spend hours doing one-versus-one, technical work, shooting drills, and I enjoyed the fact that he would push himself so much. I’d be a ‘bad’ referee when he played against 18 year olds, so he would get kicked – but have to get up and win the ball back.
“We did tactics on his Friday session during these matches. I think it helped our young players, we also had guys now at Manchester City, West Ham and Reading, become fearless, especially when coming back to their own age group.”
George also trained for several years with Unique FA, an elite academy, but under the proviso that he would play with players a few years older than himself.
Sobers still works with George and added: “Ty became unfazed by anything but it was on him how relentless he was at repetition and doing the fundamentals.
“He was non-stop and we pushed him but he always wanted to work hard and we didn’t force him, it was all him wanting to be exceptional while staying humble.
“He already showed he had the mentality by facing men even when small for his age group. A late growth spurt was the missing piece of the puzzle.”
