Santos negotiating with Chelsea, Leicester City over Thiago Maia, Gabigol, respectively — report

Alas, these aren’t rumors of the defending kind, though Maia can play defensive midfield. (Before you ask, there’s nothing new fit to report, or at least nothing new that’s even remotely reliable, with center backs Koulibaly, Mustafi, or Lindelof.)

So let’s talk about these two Santos youngsters for a second, both of whom are currently at the Rio Olympics, where Brazil U23 are doing their best to disappoint their home nation with some terrible football.

According to Portuguese-Brazilian journalist Bruno Andrade, Santos president Modesto Roma is currently in London to conduct negotiations with Chelsea and Leicester City over Thiago Maia and Gabigol, respectively. The latter is certainly a rumor out of left field, as Gabigol has looked set for a move to Italy once the Chelsea links died down.

Meanwhile, the Maia rumors are continuing a logical progression, though the last we heard, the teenager wasn’t quite sold on moving out of Brazil just yet. If there are negotiations to be conducted still, perhaps they are concerning a future transfer.