According to Brazilian journalist Jorge Nicola, whom we heard from during last summer’s Thiago Maia merry-go-round (which is sure to come back around again eventually), Chelsea’s latest pick off the always plentiful Jogo Bonito tree is Pedro Victor, i.e. Little Pedro, that is Pedrinho.
Finalistas da Copinha, Pedrinho e Dela'More são monitorados de perto por Chelsea e Lazio https://t.co/QHxabbiOv5 via @yahooesportes
— Jorge Nicola (@jorgenicola) January 24, 2017
The 18-year-old has been impressing in the São Paulo state youth cup while playing for Corinthians’ U20 side and has been tabbed for a promotion to the first-team and/or a new contract and/or a big-money move to Europe.
@cfc_wale Pedrinho is doing great at youth level lately, but it seems Corinthians don't want to sell.
— Paulo Freitas (@Cynegeticus) January 24, 2017
As usual, there are plenty of potential issues to work through should Chelsea’s interest be real.
There’s third-party ownership (Corinthians own 70% of the player’s rights), there’s the club’s supposed desire to keep him, and, at least as far as Chelsea are concerned, there’s the pesky work permit issue (though that can be side-stepped with enough money thrown at the problem). That latter bit would not be an issue for the likes of Barcelona, who have also been recently linked, along with a potential transfer fee of R$40m, which roughly translates to £10m. A decent chunk of change, to be sure, especially for an 18-year-old without a Wikipedia page.
Anyway, here’s the mandatory YouTube highlights video in lieu of any proper conclusion. As expected, he looks far too good for the level of competition he’s facing.