Exclusive: Chelsea chase €40m prodigy with Champions League pedigree for summer move | OneFootball

Chelsea are starting to intensify their interest in Lille prodigy Ayyoub Bouaddi, according to sources with knowledge of the situation.

The Blues have been interested in the 17 year old for a while as they look to continue adding the best young players in Europe to their ranks. They took things to the next level recently by sending scouts to watch both of Lille’s Champions League games against Borussia Dortmund.

Bouaddi started both games, a huge vote of confidence in his precocious ability from the club. Our source reckons he’s already valued at €35m-40m, given his high ceiling and solid catalogue of work established at such a young age.

Bouaddi was first linked with us back in December, and since then he’s continued to pick up significant appearances both in Europe and Ligue 1. It seems like we’re getting into gear to try and jump the queue for the Moroccan-French starlet who is a joy to watch on the ball, with a long stride covering ground and a natural eye for controlling the tempo.

Chelsea get into gear to hoover up another exceptional wonderkid

Ayyoub Bouaddi in action for Lille. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)

Chelsea will be hot favourites to secure the wonderkid thanks to their established policy of aiming for the younger players on the market. But there is no shortage of competition – Juventus, Arsenal and Liverpool are all mentioned directly by our source, and we assume they’re not the only ones with eyes on the midfield talent.

Plus Lille will be desperate to keep him of course, knowing that the longer he stays, the higher his value is likely to rise. Whether this summer or next, we suspect this will be a move we hear more and more about. The arrival of Andrey Santos in the summer will reduce any immediate needs, but that won’t stop our interest.