The Mirror claims Doria has a £11.2M release clause

More news on the Doria front today. Talk about the youngster seems to have picked up after it was reported Chelsea were interested in signing the 18 year old Brazilian centre-back, and it seems there could soon be progress on a potential deal.

It would appear Doria's contract carries a release clause, set at a rather gettable £11.2M, and by the looks of it, his club Botafogo are fully expecting it to be triggered by soon to be submitted bids. The club's president Mauricio Assumpção admitted as much when he said:

"Right now I can't guarantee that Doria will stay. Negotiations will depend on whether clubs pay his buy-out fee."

"Whoever wants him will need to pay more than just that value. If that happens, we don't have control."

"It will be the player's ­decision.

He, his agent and family are considering their options, but nothing is set in stone."

So while it's nice to know a talent as precocious as Doria might be available at a fee perfectly affordable to the club, the second set of quotes by Assumpção is worth noting, as there may be a veiled hint about a further stage of third party negotiations beyond the activation of the actual release clause in there.

Regardless, if the club is convinced about his ability, and assuming Mirror's assertions check out, it shouldn't be long before a deal is struck, providing Chelsea can successfully beat out the various other competitors said to be in the mix for the player. Including Spurs, who, as we've seen all too well, have become the club's choice of troll-fodder these last couple of seasons.