After a couple years back in Brazil, former wonderkid Alexandre Pato had hoped to leverage his six-month loan move to Chelsea into another shot at the European big time, and while that didn't quite happen for him at Stamford Bridge, he seems to have managed to land on his feet anyway.
His parent club Corinthians have agreed a €3m deal with La Liga side Villareal.
Alexandre Pato is off to Villarreal. Corinthians have accepted €3million offer from Spanish side https://t.co/WcT8kCDDFY
— Jack Lang (@jacklang) July 25, 2016
Chelsea's buy-option on Pato's loan contract was rumored to be around €8-10m, so even though technically Villareal only acquired 60% of the player's rights, they're still getting a pretty good deal — that is assuming the 26-year-old manages to replicate the few flashes of decent play that he showed in his limited appearances for the Blues.
While the loans of Pato and Falcao were rather head-scratching moves by Chelsea last season, we can now be freely happy for them as they begin a Spanish adventure and restart a career at Monaco, respectively.