Fabrizio Romano gives 'HERE WE GO CONFIRMED' for new Chelsea signing

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 2 Mar 2025 08:42 GMT
• 3 min read

Fabrizio Romano has confirmed that Chelsea have signed Brazilian wonderkid Denner Evangelista.

Romano reports on Sunday that a deal has been agreed for the 17-year-old full back to join Chelsea from Corinthians for a fee of €10 million plus €4m in add-ons and taxes.

Denner has agreed a contract until 2032 but he won't join up with Chelsea until 2026.

Romano says the transfer will be made official by Chelsea very soon.

Last month, 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.

What Corinthians said about Denner transfer

Corinthians' president Augusto Melo all but officially confirmed that Denner was heading to Chelsea a few weeks ago.

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."

Romano has now confirmed that the transfer is done and that Denner will become an official Chelsea player soon.