Chelsea continue to shop in South Americaplaceholder image
Chelsea continue to shop in South America | Getty Images
Chelsea may have been too slow amid interest in another South American talent.
Chelsea have been hit by a transfer blow in their bid to sign another up and coming South American talent. The Blues have shopped heavily in South America over recent years, plucking the finest talent from the continent as part of their youth-based recruitment strategy.
The likes of Estevao Willian and Andrey Santos have already been success stories, and there is more to come from both of those players.
While Che;sea’s recent recruitment strategy has been successful, questions are now being asked over whether the Blues need to prioritise polished talents as they look to make the step from being top four contenders to title contenders.
Whether the Blues do that or not this summer remains to be seen, but even if they do go after established stars, the club is likely to continue their South American recruitment mission, given the success they have already had there.
According to ABC Sevilla, Chelsea have shown plenty of interest in Independiente star Patrik Mercado, who is a 22-year-old attacking midfielder. But it now looks as though he is heading to Sevilla, with the Spanish club beating Chelsea to the deal.
The report claims the La Liga club have agreed a £5.2million deal with Independiente despite not currently having a non-EU player spot available, nor do they have room in their La Liga wage cap. But those are things the Andalusian club will look to address in the summer, and one of their current non-EU players in Marcão said to be in the process of applying for Spanish citizenship.
It has been speculated that Chelsea could look to hijack the deal, but with a pre-contract agreement now in place with Sevilla, it looks as though Mercado’s future is now spoken for.
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