Chelsea will almost certainly take their pursuit of Manchester City's young striker Daniel Sturridge to a tribunal, with the clubs as much as £7m apart in their valuations of him.

City officially released the 19-year-old on Tuesday with his wage demands rendering further contractual talks futile, but they still want a payment of £10m for him, payable as a development fee because he is under 23, despite the fact that his contract has lapsed.

Chelsea and City are millions of pounds apart in their valuation — both on the down payment they each believe appropriate and on the add-ons dependent on games played and achievements in a Chelsea shirt.

City's position is that they have nurtured a young footballing talent who they rank on the Theo Walcott price bracket for potential.

Chelsea argue that the Birmingham-born teenager, brought to City from Coventry six years ago, has not played enough games to warrant the selling club's valuation. Sturridge has appeared 21 times for the senior side, scoring five goals.

There are grounds for negotiation, with Chelsea potentially offering perhaps £5m up front, with fewer conditions on the player's performances, but the clubs are too far apart for a likely resolution outside of the bounds of the valuation tribunal.

City do not believe the cash dispute will hold up Sturridge's signing too long.

Chelsea have signed 24-year-old Keeper Ross Turnball on a free transfer from Middlesbrough. Turnball has signed a four-year deal.

But Mark Hughes has suggested his job of rebuilding the now supremely wealthy City will not be complete this summer.

“We might not be able to get all the players we need in this window. There might be other windows in which we need to negotiate to get players into the club,” he said.