Chelsea interested in RCD Espanyol midfielder Nico Melamed — report

While Chelsea have been linked to a number of players for the first-team in recent weeks, our only bits of business recently have been signing players for the youth team.

The next one to join Bryan Fiabema, Edwin Andersson, and Jimi Tauriainen may be 18-year-old Nico Melamed. Breaking with the theme, he is not from a Nordic country, but rather from Catalonia.

According to Gianluca Di Marzio, Chelsea are one of many clubs interested in the 18-year-old midfielder, who currently plays for RCD Espanyol. While he has made only one solitary appearance for the senior team, and that in the Europa League qualifying stage, he has 39 appearances for their B team in the Spanish 3rd division, with 9 goals to show for it. Melamed, who usually goes by Nico or Nico M.R. on his shirt, has represented Spain at the youth international level and has been capped twice by the U19 team.

He is clearly highly rated, given the reported scouting from the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich as well. He has an €8m release clause that the interested parties are probably willing to pay. Di Marzio’s report states that there is a good possibility that a move may materialize for Melamed, so keep your eyes out for this one.