“Almost done deal” – Transfer close but Romano gets his angle wrong | OneFootball

Right back Pedro Lima is closing in on a much awaited move to Strasbourg, the Ligue 1 club owned by the same owners as Chelsea.

Fabrizio Romano today quoted the player as saying “it’s almost a done deal” as he prepared to leave Sport Recife and take his talents to Europe. It’s clear that the hope is that he develops playing for our sister club and then moves to Stamford Bridge at some point down the line. We expect this same model to be used repeatedly by the ownership as they fine tune their multi club model.

It saves the Blues an international loan slot they would otherwise be using to send him the other way, plus it puts the FFP burden of Lima’s wages on Strasbourg. There’s an element of risk in the move as you never know quite how he’s going to get on or what will happen if other, non-Chelsea clubs start pushing to sign him. But overall it seems a sensible set up.

If this works, we expect a lot more of our more long term gambles on South American talent to be introduced to Europe this way.

A funny position to be in for fans

It’s a funny position for Chelsea fans to be in. We’ve been linked to this young talent for ages, got excited about seeing him, then found out he’s not coming to Chelsea – yet he is going to a club owned by our owners, so there’s always a chance he gets moved across at some point.

The fact that Romano puts him in a Chelsea kit in the mocked up photo is just plain wrong, however. It’s still odds on that the Brazilian doesn’t make the grade and ends up not coming to Stamford Bridge, it’s just a possibility if he really is as exceptional as everyone hopes.