Chelsea interested in Atlético Mineiro right back Emerson — report

Chelsea, like all big teams around the world, continually keep at least one eye out for the latest promising talents on either side of the Atlantic.

Latest in the proverbial never-ending production line over in Brazil is 19-year-old Atlético Mineiro right-back Emerson, whom Chelsea have been observing, according to a report from Brazilian newspaper O Tempo.

Emerson started his career at Ponte Preta, getting promoted to the first-team in 2015 and earning a move to Atlético Mineiro in April of this year.

That may have been just six months ago, but since then, Emerson has become the club’s first-choice right back and has piqued the interest of Premier League sides like Chelsea and Arsenal. The Brazil U20 international has started 17 of 6th-place Atlético-MG’s last 19 Série A matches.

At the moment, Emerson only has 45 appearances in professional football, with half of those coming at just the state championship level. Thus, it might be too soon to pull the trigger.

However, I would certainly not fault Chelsea for taking this risk.