Chelsea have made an offer for Brazilian teenager Wesley Gassova, with Corinthians wanting £16.9m for the player according to reports.
The Blues have really targeted the South American market since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital took over in 2022, and they have been acquiring some of the continent’s best talent.
The club have already signed Andrey Santos, Angelo Gabriel, Deivid Washington, Kendry Paez and Estevao Willian, whilst a deal for Argentine centre back Aaron Anselmino is very close.
Chelsea bid for Wesley
It appears the Blues have now identified their next target in South America with Foot Mercato reporting the club have submitted an offer for 19-year-old winger Wesley.
The report adds that fellow Premier League club West Ham have also made an offer for Wesley with Corinthians wanting £16.9m for the teenager.
Foot Mercato state Wesley will leave Corinthians, and he also has interest from several clubs in France including Nice, whilst Porto and Roma are also monitoring the situation.
Wesley is predominantly a left winger but can also play on the right and as a second striker, but quite where he would fit in at Chelsea is difficult to work out.
He’s already made 72 appearances for Corinthians to date scoring seven goals and providing five assists, and is a product of the club’s academy.
Wesley is knocking on the door of the national team having made Brazil’s provisional squad for the Copa America, but didn’t make the final squad.
Right now there’s certainly no space in the Chelsea squad for the Brazilian, and if the Blues were to complete a deal it feels like they would purely be talent hoarding at this point.
Chelsea would be better off focusing on the first team, which hasn’t been successful for the last two years than continuing with their relentless drive of signing players who may never play for the club.