Fabrizio Romano has a favourite new wonderkid to promote.
Who knows if the kid’s agent is slipping Romano some cash or if he really does just rate him, but either way he’s promoting young Esteveo Willian to a degree we rarely see from him.
The Palmeiras attacker is still just 16, but apparently already has been observed by the Blues for some time.
“Remember the name Estevao Willian, playing at Palmeiras and on the list of big clubs around Europe for a long time. His release clause is around €60m (£51.4m) — this is the value of the clause, but I can guarantee once again that scouts from all over Europe, including Chelsea for a long time now, are travelling to scout this boy,” Romano wrote in his piece for GiveMeSport.
“Chelsea scouts have been in attendance since all the way back in October — the interest is there, even if there haven’t been any negotiations yet. It’s not easy to pay that kind of money, of course.”
The previous wave of Brazilian imports have yet to really take off. We haven’t seen much from Andrey Santos, Deivid Washington or Angelo Gabriel that would get this sort of praise, but of course they have plenty more time to develop.
The problem is that given the €60m release clause Romano mentions, it’s almost impossible to see Chelsea having the money to buy such a raw talent given their financial situation. They need every penny for a striker, and can’t be spending any significant funds on pure potential right now.
