It’s shaping up to be another busy summer at Stamford Bridge, with Chelsea said to be closing on in the signing of one of Europe’s most promising young strikers.
As is the norm in recent years, Chelsea’s summer has already seen a managerial change after Enzo Maresca was brought in from Leicester City to replace Mauricio Pochettino, while the club have already confirmed two new signings.
Defender Tosin Adarabioyo will join the club when his contract at Fulham expires at the end of the month, while the club have also confirmed that 17-year-old Brazilian striker Estevao Willian will join from Palmeiras next summer. And it appears another youngster could also soon be on the way.
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That’s because the Blues are said to have entered advanced talks to sign Barcelona prospect Marc Guiu, as per Teamtalk. The 18-year-old has a £5million release clause that Chelsea see as being a huge bargain and believe he can help take some of Nicolas Jackson’s workload, while also developing him into an elite long-term prospect.
Guiu broke into the Barcelona first-team picture this season, scoring his first senior goal with only his second touch, after netting the winner just 23 seconds after coming off the bench against Athletic Bilbao in October. He would go on to make three La Liga appearances and two in the Champions League for the Catalan side.
The targeting of Guiu sees Chelsea committing to their philosophy of buying and developing young talent and would see the club take their spending on players under the age of 23 to a whopping £650million over the past three transfer windows.
In FourFourTwo’s opinion, the £5million release clause means this is a relatively low-risk and potentially high-reward deal. It is clear that Chelsea are looking to continue their policy of hoovering up young talent, but as their squad continues to swell, will Guiu be given a fair shot at the first team and time to develop?
In terms of addressing their need for a new striker, there have been calls to sign a forward with more experience to work and play alongside the 23-year-old Jackson, so Guiu’s arrival will be little to silence those calls.
Guiu is valued at €7.5million by Transfermarkt.
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