EXCLUSIVE: Chelsea in advanced talks to sign Brazil wonderkid Pedro Lima

Exclusive

Chelsea have advanced negotiations for the transfer of another young South American talent, Brazil youth international Pedro Lima.

FootballTransfers understands that the Premier League club has offered a transfer fee worth €8million to Sport Recife for the 17-year-old full-back.

Club-to-club negotiations are ongoing amidst competing interest from English champions Manchester City and leading clubs in Italy and Spain. Sport Recife president Yuri Romao has flown to London to work on the deal.

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As Lima does not yet qualify for a UK work permit, Chelsea's sporting directors have proposed a development path that will see the teenager start his European career at French feeder club RC Strasbourg.

In consideration of Chelsea's significant UEFA Financial Fair Play and Premier League Profit and Sustainability difficulties, the teenager's initial transfer from Brazil may be direct to Strasbourg, owned by the same BlueCo parent company as the London club.

Who is Pedro Lima?

A fast right back who excels in attacking opponents one-on-one, Lima has been compared to former Brazil captain Cafu. He played all five matches for his nation's Under-17s at October's World Cup in Indonesia and was recently called up to his nation's Under-20 squad.

Promoted to Sport's first team in January, Lima won the Campeonato Pernambucano in April, has been an ever-present in Brazil's Serie B, and had his contract improved and extended until 2027 in February.

The £1billion-plus overhaul of Chelsea's squad in the two years since Clearlake Capital led a £2.5bn takeover of the club has been primarily focused on young talents, with a significant percentage of signings from South America.

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Chelsea have already bought Deivid Washington, Angelo Gabriel and Andrey Santos from Brazil. Right winger Gabriel and central midfielder Santos spent the 2023/24 season on loan at Strasbourg making 21 and 11 Ligue 1 appearances respectively.

Minority owner Todd Boehly sought to explain Chelsea's recruitment strategy at a recent sports conference. “One of the things that Premier League clubs have is worldwide marks they can use,” said Boehly. “We’ve got a global group of players from Argentina to Brazil.”

“Part of the long-range plan will be really to extend the brand as much as possible to build a fanbase because ultimately the larger our fanbase grows, the more competitive we’ll be able to be because these [proposed Premier League] salary caps are based on revenue."

“In order to compete, you have to have growing revenue. And I think a brand like Chelsea really allows for that. Growing that brand, especially globally, is predicated on winning. I think that winning is at the top of the things that are most important. When you’re attracting a new fan, the key is to have something that’s really aspirational.”