According to both Fabrizio Romano and Nizaar Kinsella of BBC Sport, Chelsea have activated the release clause of Barcelona striker Marc Guiu, which is just over £5 million (€6 million).
The 18 year old will travel to London for a medical and then Cobham Training Centre to complete media duties, all of which is expected to be a mere formality, with Guiu likely to be unveiled as a Chelsea player soon.
Barça had offered the La Masia a new contract, with a substantially higher release clause, but he will leave the club he joined as a seven-year old to move to the Premier League.
Who is Marc Guiu?
Those in the know have been aware of Marc Guiu’s potential for a little while now, named in the Guardian’s Next Generation profile series as one of the best players worldwide born in 2006, alongside other superstars including Endrick and Warren Zaïre-Emery.
He announced himself to the wider public back in October, scoring just 23 seconds after being thrown on for his senior debut against Athletic Club as Barça snatched a late 1-0 victory at Montjuïc, becoming both the fastest and youngest debutant to score in La Liga, doing so at the age of 17 years and 291 days.
Despite this, he saw only 187 minutes of senior action last season, on target again during a dead-rubber Champions League defeat to Royal Antwerp at Bosuilstadion, and this lack of opportunities may be behind his decision to leave Catalonia.
Guiu’s arrival would be a continuation of Chelsea’s transfer strategy
Since Clearlake Capital have taken control over Chelsea, led by Todd Boehly, Behdad Eghbali and José E. Feliciano, they’ve obviously spent a lot of money in the transfer market, around £982 million to be exact, with their strategy, at least in theory, to buy young, up-and-coming players before anyone else knows about them.
Mykhailo Mudryk, Malo Gusto, Benoît Badiashile, Noni Madueke, Andrey Santos, Cesare Casadei, Carney Chukwuemeka, Gaga Słonina, Lesley Ugochukwu, Đorđe Petrović, Axel Disasi, Deivid Washington and countless others (we could go on!) certainly fit this profile, with the arrivals of both Guiu as well as Omari Kellyman from Aston Villa suggesting they are sticking to their model.
Chelsea in the market for a new striker
Striker is clearly an area new head coach Enzo Maresca is looking to strengthen, with Nicolas Jackson, Armando Broja and David Datro Fofana his current senior options. Jacob Steinberg in the Guardian claims Chelsea are eager to sell Broja to Everton, while Fofana’s future is also uncertain, following a loan spell at Burnley.
Already this summer, the Blues have attempted to sign Jhon Durán from Aston Villa, while Adam Leventhal writes in The Athletic they’d like to bring academy graduate Dominic Solanke back to Stamford Bridge, although his own release clause of £65 million means a move for the Bournemouth striker is unlikely to come to fruition.
It remains to be seen if the plan is to integrate Guiu into the first team, or if the 18 year old will be sent out on loan to gain further expirence.
