According to Brazilian journalist Bruno Andrade, Chelsea could resume talks to sign Corinthians midfielder Gabriel Moscardo in the next few days.
The London giants made an opening offer of £18 million plus £3.5 million for the teenager last week, but the Brazilian outfit responded with an asking price of £30 million. As per Andrade, the proposal is still on the table. Talks are at a standstill at the moment, but should resume in the coming days.
Moscardo will only turn 18 years of age later this month and Chelsea would not have been allowed to sign him this summer. However, they may need to speed up negotiations for the wonderkid, who has been called up for Brazil Under-23 duty. Manchester City are exploring a deal with their sister club Bahia.
Future talent
Chelsea have been busy in strengthening their midfield in 2023. They landed Enzo Fernandez and Andrey Santos at the beginning of the year and brought in Moises Caicedo, Lesley Ugochukwu and Romeo Lavia in the recent summer transfer window. It seems they are looking to add more quality for the future.
Moscardo only made his senior club debut for Corinthians this season and he has so far made 6 appearances. In his short time with the first-team, he has already impressed with several attributes. The youngster has won 2.8 tackles and made 1.5 clearances per game and has completed 83% of his passes.
These are qualities which have caught the attention of Mauricio Pochettino’s men, but they need to wrap up a deal before City step up their pursuit. Similar to Chelsea, City have also been exploring the Brazilian market for the next big thing. Their move could be more tempting for the highly-rated teenager.
While Chelsea want to bring him to Europe, they are likely to loan him out to sister club Strasbourg. On the other hand, City could purchase him through Bahia where he could gain more senior experience in his homeland before signing for them. This could be a better strategy for his development.
