Chelsea are admirers of Corinthians wonderkid midfielder Gabriel Moscardo, but are not currently looking likely to make a move for him, according to Fabrizio Romano.
Speaking exclusively to CaughtOffside for his Daily Briefing column, Romano provided an update on the Moscardo situation, with Paris Saint-Germain looking set to open talks over landing the exciting young Brazilian.
Chelsea, meanwhile, currently seem to be out of the running for Moscardo, despite previously having an interest in the 18-year-old back in the summer, when they failed to get a deal done for him.
PSG don’t have anything done yet, but currently seem to be leading the race, whereas Romano denied anything being done with Chelsea, as has been reported by some other outlets.
“If you’ve been following my reporting in recent months you’ll be aware of the highly talented Gabriel Moscardo at Corinthians. As I told you back in August, Chelsea had a verbal proposal rejected for the midfielder, but now in the last 24 hours we’ve had reports from Brazil that an agreement is done between Chelsea and Corinthians on a €25m package,” Romano said.
However, he then added: “There is no agreement between Chelsea and Corinthians on Moscardo – it is not a done deal. Moscardo is a player Chelsea appreciate, but it is not correct to say that it is a done deal at this stage.
“Still, this will be one to watch for sure as Moscardo is expected to become a record sale for Corinthians this January. The expectation is for him to move, but although Chelsea like the player and tried to sign him before, my understanding is that this is not a done deal as things stand.
“One thing we can say now is that PSG will open talks to sign Gabriel Moscardo – they will speak to both Corinthians and the player’s agents. There are no further details yet, so let’s see what happens, the race is still open even if it currently looks like Chelsea are not going to bid for him.
“Personally, I really like Moscardo, he’s very talented and I can see why he’s already been linked with so many top European teams; any club signing him will be doing a smart piece of business.”
Some Chelsea fans will undoubtedly be disappointed by this news, as Moscardo looks like a perfect fit for the kind of player they’ve targeted under the ownership of Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali.