Chelsea transfer CONFIRMED as president hails 'wonderful sale'

Tom Weber

Updated: 30 Jan 2025 17:12 GMT
3 min read

Corinthians' president Augusto Melo has all but officially confirmed that Denner is heading to Chelsea.

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Earlier this week, news broke in Brazil that the Blues had opened formal talks with Corinthians over young left-back Denner. The 16-year-old has yet to make his senior debut but has been impressing with the Serie A side's U20s.

The wonderkid, who won't be eligible to actually join up with Chelsea until he turns 18 in February 2026, fully fits into the club's youth-focused transfer strategy and it was no surprise that the West London club had unearthed another South American gem.

It has been claimed that Chelsea made an offer worth €12.5 million for the teenager, with the deal consisting of a guaranteed €8m and €4.5m in potential add-ons.

Now, Corinthians' president has seemingly confirmed the deal, hailing the move as a 'wonderful sale' for his club.

Chelsea transfer confirmed

Speaking to Meu Timao, with his quotes relayed by Globo Esporte, Augusto Melo expressed his disappointment with the player's agents but acknowledged that the transfer of Denner will be very lucrative for his club, more lucrative than initially reported.

“For a 16-year-old boy who hasn’t yet stepped into the professional ranks, who is a promise, who still has two years to stay at Corinthians because he can only leave after he turns 18, it is a wonderful sale, in a way,” Melo said.

“He has a clause. The agents didn’t agree to increase the clause because there was already an enquiry to sell. There’s nothing we can do about it, either you accept, or they pay the ridiculous clause.

“I want to make one thing very clear: it’s not what I wanted, it’s not what I want. I would never sell Denner now. As much as I need money, I kept the players in the squad and renewed their contracts.

“We don’t have money to hire, we are making sacrifices. It’s not a great sale for Corinthians, but it’s a necessity. In context, it’s an excellent sale. After all, he would either leave for R$10m [€1.6m] or leave abroad.”

“There is a proposal, it is €8m, and then there is a value of €500,000 for a specific number of games. With the bonus, the contract could reach €15m."