'Excellent sale' - Club chief confirms transfer agreement with Chelsea for defender

Chelsea are said to have agreed a fee to sign another promising South American talent ahead of the January transfer deadline. The Blues have dedicated plenty of resources to landing young players with big potential from countries such as Argentina and Brazil.

With a focus on youth, the Blues are hoping to avoid spending huge fees to improve their squad, or at least consistently, hoping to have a steady stream of young talents coming through to the first team.

The best way to do that is by spending to sign players before they turn 18, and the positive part about that, at least when involving players who play abroad, is that those players will continue to play with their current clubs until they turn 18. Players are not allowed to make the move before then, so once Chelsea agree a deal, there is a kind of natural loan period in place that allows the players to keep developing in a more comfortable environment.

The latest young player to become a target is Corinthians star Denner, who is still only 16 years of age. The left-back is yet to break into the first team at Corinthians, currently with their under-20s side, while he is also a Brazil under-17s international.

Chelsea have all-but agreed a deal worth €15million including add-ons for Denner, which works out at around £12.5million, with Corinthians chief Meu Timao, telling Globo Esporte: “For a 16-year-old boy who hasn’t yet stepped into the professional ranks, who is a promise, who still has two years to stay at Corinthians because he can only leave after he turns 18, it is a wonderful sale, in a way.

“He has a clause, the agents didn’t agree to increase the clause because there was already an enquiry to sell. There’s nothing we can do about it, either you accept, or they pay the ridiculous clause. I want to make one thing very clear: it’s not what I wanted, it’s not what I want. I would never sell Denner now. As much as I need money, I kept the players in the squad and renew their contracts.

“We don’t have money to hire, we are making sacrifices. It’s not a great sale for Corinthians, but it’s a necessity. In context, it’s an excellent sale. After all, he would either leave for R$10m [€1.63m for Brazilian clubs] or leave abroad.”

Speaking about the fee, Timao added: “There is a proposal, it is €8m, and then there is a value of €500,000 for a specific number of games. With the bonus, the contract could reach €15m.”

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