Chelsea have raided Brazil for young talent under Todd Boehly (Picture: Getty)
Chelsea have ‘verbally agreed’ to sign 17-year-old Brazilian wonderkid Pedro Lima from Sport Recife, according to reports.
The teenage right-back was promoted to Sport Recife’s first team for the 2024 season and only made his debut back in January but he has bags of potential.
Lima featured at the U17s World Cup for Brazil in late 2023 – playing in all five matches before they were eliminated by Argentina – catching the eye of top clubs.
It appears Chelsea have now won the race for Lima’s signature, continuing their trend of recruiting young South American talent under co-owner Todd Boehly.
The deal will be done via BlueCo side Strasbourg and Chelsea’s owners have paid a €7m (£6m) fixed fee with €3.5m (£3m) in add-ons.
That’s according to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, who reports that Lima’s agent is now set to travel to west London to iron out the final details.
Lima helped second-tier Sport Recife win the Campeonato Pernambucano in 2024 after he joined them from previous club Meninos da Paraiba.
Chelsea have raided Brazil and other South American nations for young talent in the last two years, bringing in Andrey Santos, Deivid Washington and Angelo respectively.
The former star came in from Vasco da Gama and has since gone out on loan to Nottingham Forest and Strasbourg.
Washington and Angelo, meanwhile, were playing for Santos when Chelsea snapped them up in 2023.
Ecuadorian wonderkid Kendry Paez will arrive at Chelsea in 2025 (Picture: Getty)
There is also huge buzz around Chelsea wonderkid Kendry Paez, who is set to arrive in west London in 2025 after he was signed from Independiente del Valle.
Paez, who avoided serious punishment for allegedly attending a New York strip club earlier this year, can’t wait to link up with Enzo Fernandez at Chelsea.
‘It will be something special to share things with players like Enzo,’ Paez said last year. ‘It’s wonderful.’
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