Chelsea swoop for 18-year-old duo

Tom Hancock

• 1 Jul 2023 14:08 BST
• 3 min read

Chelsea’s latest busy transfer window has continued with the arrival of youngsters Diego Moreira and Alex Matos.

Portugal U21 winger Moreira has joined the Blues from Benfica, with versatile attacker Matos arriving from Norwich City.

The pair follow two big senior forward signings – Christopher Nkunku and Nicolas Jackson – through the door at Stamford Bridge, as Chelsea, now with Mauricio Pochettino at the helm, look to vastly improve on their disastrous 2022/23 season.

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Moreira – whose father Almani featured for the likes of Boavista and Partizan Belgrade, and represented Guinea-Bissau internationally – played a key role in Benfica’s 2021/22 UEFA Youth League triumph and made one first-team appearance for the Portuguese giants.

Matos, meanwhile, broke into Norwich’s U21 side last term, scoring three goals in Premier League 2 – the league competition for English football’s top academies.

The arrival of Moreira and Matos comes as Chelsea release around a dozen young players of their own, on the first day of football’s new financial year.

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Poch's plan for the Blues' next generation

It’s fair to say Moreira and Matos are ones for the future – and, based on Chelsea’s heavy turnover of young players, it would be no great surprise if neither made an appearance for the Blues first team.

But the likes of Trevoh Chalobah and Armando Broja have made the grade in recent years – with 19-year-old Lewis Hall also making 11 first-team appearances last season.

Pochettino has historically given youth a chance – and the former Tottenham boss is said to have big plans to do so at Chelsea, where he officially began work as head coach today, having spent the past 12 months out of the game following his sacking by PSG.