How just €500k may have cost Chelsea another Brazilian talent | OneFootball

Chelsea owners BlueCo were considered top favourites to sign 17 year old right back Pedro Lima from Sport Recife as recently as Monday afternoon, intending to park him at affiliate club Strasbourg. Fabrizio Romano had even put up a graphic of the defender wearing Blue.

But then it all fell apart – Wolves came in with an offer and gazumped us at the last. Plenty of fans have been left scratching their head about how it happened – well Globo Esporte in Brazil have been in contact with Lima’s agent for information on what happened in those crucial hours.

Pedro Lima in training with Sport Recife.

How it all worked out

So, here’s how it all went down, at least according to the youngster’s agent.

BlueCo offered €7.5m for Lima up front, with a further €3m available in bonuses. According to the article, those were dependent on some pretty lofty aspirations, considering we’re talking about a Strasbourg team who struggled against relegation for large parts of last season.

Part of that payment would have been generated by qualifying for Europe, and another part by Lima making an appearance for the Brazil senior team. All of that just for a €10.5m total fee. You can see why Sport weren’t so interested.

Meanwhile Wolves offered a flat €10m, without any bonuses or add ons. Cash up front is always king in football, and you’d take that deal any day.

From the player’s point of view, of course it would be great to be in the BlueCo aegis and know you have the chance to play for Chelsea if you do well. But on the other hand, moving to Wolves gets him to the Premier League right away, and with inferior players ahead of him for competition.

If all this is true, we can see why the player, his agent and his club all were happy to take the Midlands option. Good luck to him!