Fabrizio Romano’s column for Caughtoffside this week saw him asked about one of the most interesting rumours doing the rounds right now. Chelsea have been linked heavily with Estevao Willian, the sensational Palmeiras talent of just 17.
His report on the matter doesn’t make any denials that he’s hearing the same things we are about the Blues’ interest, but he also can’t get his head around how it would work or where it’s all coming from:
“Born in 2007, he recently had his debut with Palmeiras and he’s a fantastic top talent with a release clause in his contract of €60m,” Romano reported.
“We had information about an official tweet from Chelsea but what I’m hearing is that Chelsea have not presented an official bid. There is still no official bid from any club at this point, not even a formal bid at the moment. Everything is about talks,” Romano continued.
“I already told you many times that Chelsea are really well informed on the situation. They have been tracking Estevao since November, he’s one of the talents they’re monitoring in South America and are in regular contact but no formal proposal has been sent to Palmeiras yet.
“Let’s see what Chelsea will decide to do with this deal because it fascinates me.”
A fascinating situation waiting to play out
We have to say, we totally understand Romano’s fascination with this one. Given all we have heard since last summer is how much Chelsea need to sell to balance the books, how on earth could those in charge justify spending such a vast sum on a teenager with just a handful of senior starts?
No matter his talent, it would undermine the ownership on so many levels. Firstly it would guarantee even more sales from the first team squad to fund it. Secondly it would be a massive move in the same direction of signing unproven youngsters that’s damaged us so much this season. Thirdly it would make the amount spent on lesser talents (like Angelo Gabriel and Deivid Washington last summer) look even more excessive. Why sign all those kids without a pathway if you could sign a better one a year later and provide them a route to the first team?
It all seems so impossible, yet the whispers are strong. No wonder Romano is fascinated.
