Chelsea ready to submit £8.5 million bid for Brazilian wonderkid to fend off interest from Premier League rivals

Chelsea love signing Brazilians. (Reuters/Peter Cziborra)

Chelsea’s fascination with Brazil’s brightest young talents has become something of a trademark in recent years.

Some of those gambles have already begun to pay off — Estevão Willian is widely considered the most exciting teenager to come out of the country in years, while Andrey Santos is viewed internally as a long-term midfield solution.

Others, though, have failed to ignite. Deivid Washington has barely featured since arriving, and Ângelo Gabriel was sold to Al-Nassr a little over a year after joining for £13 million, departing without making a single senior appearance.

Now, it appears another Brazilian prospect has emerged on Chelsea’s radar.

Brazilian journalist Fábio Vargas reports that Chelsea have stepped up their pursuit of Grêmio starlet Luis Eduardo, signalling to the club that a formal offer is imminent.

The proposed bid is expected to surpass €10m (£8.5m) and include a series of add-ons tied to development and performance.

The update follows recent claims from Spain that both Chelsea and Manchester United have been keeping close tabs on the 17-year-old defender.

In anticipation of growing interest, Grêmio recently secured Eduardo to a new contract running until May 2028 and installed a hefty €60m (£51.4m) release clause for clubs outside Brazil. Chelsea’s opening approach is therefore understood to be more of a feeler, testing whether Grêmio are prepared to negotiate below that figure.

Whether Grêmio engage with the offer or hold firm to the release clause remains to be seen, but this is the clearest indication yet that Chelsea intend to turn their interest into a formal pursuit.

Will Eduardo follow the trajectory of Estevão and Santos, becoming another success story in Chelsea’s youth-focused recruitment drive? Or will he end up closer to the fate of Ângelo — highly rated, but ultimately unable to break through?

The Blues seem ready to find out.

Barnaby Lane is a highly experienced sports writer who has written for The Times, FourFourTwo Magazine, Sports Illustrated, TalkSPORT, and Business Insider.

Over the years, he's had the pleasure of interviewing some of the biggest names in world sport, including Usain Bolt, Rafael Nadal, Christian Pulisic, and more.