Chelsea, Stade Rennais agree €27.5m transfer for Lesley Ugochukwu — reports

According to multiple reports, including from The Athletic, Chelsea have dropped another nice bundle of cash-money millions on a promising young teenage talent, this time on 19-year-old midfielder Lesley Chimuanya Ugochukwu from Stade Rennais. And it’s certainly a nice bundle, reportedly as much as €27.5m.

A France U19 international of Nigerian descent, Ugochukwu made 35 appearances last season (20 starts), primarily as a defensive midfielder (either alone or in a pivot). He’s followed in the footsteps of Eduardo Camavinga at the Ligue 1 club, and now he’s followed him in terms of earning his big-money move as well — though apparently he might be earmarked for a loan at this time.

(That’s a pretty big fee for a Loan Army signing, but who knows what our value-scale looks like these days. We could use a defensive midfielder in the main squad, too, right, Moisés?)

“The Premier League is somewhere that I’d like to reach. I have things to improve but my dream is to play in the Premier League.”

“When I was small, I would watch the skills of players like Pogba and Vieira on YouTube. They inspired me a lot because of the way they play. When I grew up, my academy coach sometimes called me ‘Vieira’ because they could see some techniques that he had before. I kind of see myself in both players.”

-Lesley Ugochukwu; source: The Athletic

Well, wouldn’t you know it, Patrick Vieira’s the new coach at RC Strasbourg, our BlueCo multi-club!