According to reports, Chelsea believes they have won the race to sign Brazilian youngster Andrey Santos.
Newcastle United were on the verge of agreeing a deal with his club Vasco da Gama after beating off competition from PSG.
Chelsea and Barcelona, on the other hand, made moves to try and win the race for Santos, and the Stamford Bridge giants believe they are now in a good position to seal a deal.
According to sources close to Chelsea, the club hopes to reach an agreement before the January transfer window opens, at which point they will announce a deal worth around £12 million, but which could rise to around £20 million with add-ons.
Chelsea’s latest high-profile teenage acquisition since Todd Boehly’s consortium took over last summer would be Carney Chukwuemeka, Omari Hutchinson, Gabriel Slonina, and Cesare Casadei.
Andrey Santos is a rising star who was recently endorsed by Vasco da Gama legend Juninho Pernambucano.
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“He is a monster physically,” Juninho said of Santos. “Without the ball, his participation in the game is total. I was curious to see his GPS because he never stops! And he’s technically far superior to the others.
“He’s not going to be better than me, he’s going to be much better than me. He’s a much more well-rounded player. I didn’t play half a game until I was 18 years old.