Geovany Quenda, the 17-year-old Chelsea have reached an agreement to sign, has been called up to the senior Portugal national squad for the first time.
Roberto Martinez has selected the uncapped teenage sensation in his squad for their Nations League quarter-final against Denmark next week. Quenda will link up with his soon-to-be Chelsea teammate Pedro Neto, who has also made the squad for the upcoming matches.
It was confirmed to football.london by sources close to Stamford Bridge that Chelsea had reached an agreement with Sporting CP in the region of €45-50million (£37.8million-£42million) for Quenda, who was also wanted by Manchester United.
Quenda has enjoyed a superb breakthrough season with Sporting in Portugal, where he has featured 43 times for the club in all competitions. In that time, he has scored twice and assisted eight times, with over 3000 minutes of senior football under his belt this term. He was predominantly used as the right wing-back in a three-at-the-back system when Ruben Amorim, who has since taken over at Manchester United, was in charge at the Jose Alvalade Stadium but has more recently been deployed as one of the attacking wingers in a four-back formation.
While Chelsea have agreed the transfer now, Quenda will spend the rest of the season at Sporting and will also remain in Lisbon for the 2025/26 campaign. He is set to join up with his teammates at Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2026, with the Blues seeing him as an attacking winger, sources have told football.london.
Chelsea believe they have just sealed the signing of one of the hottest young prospects in European football. Former Sporting academy coach Fabio Roque, when speaking to Sky Sports last year, drew comparisons between Quenda and Arsenal superstar Bukayo Saka.
"Geo is so demanding with himself in the defensive moments," Roque said. "To close, to recover fast, to win the defensive duels for his teammates. It reminds me of Bukayo Saka at the beginning of his career when he played as a full-back.
"There is only one Geovany Quenda [though]. He is different from any other player I trained. He can create a mark on football that is totally different. We are talking about, with Lamine Yamal and Estevao Willian [who joins Chelsea in the summer], probably the best players in that generation born in 2007."