Exclusive: Derby County, Coventry City, Middlesbrough & QPR join Swansea in race to sign Brazilian star | OneFootball

Derby County, Coventry City, Middlesbrough and QPR have joined Swansea City in the race to sign RWD Molenbeek defender David Sousa, FLW understands.

Derby County, Coventry City, Middlesbrough and QPR have joined Swansea City in the race to sign RWD Molenbeek defender David Sousa, Football League World has exclusively been informed.

A fascinating five-team Championship transfer battle is underway for the Brazilian defender.

All of Derby, Coventry, QPR and Swansea City respectively, have already made numerous new signings this summer, whilst Middlesbrough are yet to make any senior additions so far.

Derby, Coventry, Middlesbrough and QPR join Swansea in David Sousa transfer race

Football League World has exclusively been informed that Derby, Coventry, QPR and Middlesbrough have joined Swansea City in the race to sign defender David Sousa from Belgian second tier side, RWD Molenbeek.

Indeed, as revealed by The Athletic this week, the Swans have already seen a €1m (approx £858,000) bid rejected by Molenbeek for Sousa, with a deal not expected to progress any further after a slight disagreement in the players' value.

The 23-year-old hails from Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, and spent his youth career with two of his homeland's biggest clubs: Flamengo and Botafogo.

A central-defender, Sousa made his Botafogo debut in January 2020, and would spend the next four years contracted with the club, which included him signing a two-year loan deal with Belgian side Cercle Brugge in the summer of 2021.

At the time of his arrival with Cercle, the club's technical director at the time Carlos Aviña said of Sousa: "As a central defender, David is one of the greatest young Brazilian talents...David is positive-aggressive on the ball and dominant in aerial duels. He will certainly have a big impact in our team".

Sousa eventually left Botafogo permanently in January 2024, returning to Belgium, but this time signing for RWD Molenbeek (who are changing their name to Daring Brussels from the 25/26 season onwards).

He is understood to be contracted with Molenbeek until next summer.

Sousa would be a gamble for any club to sign, but he could be a highly shrewd piece of business

Given his age and the fact his career so far has been resigned to Brazilian and Belgian football respectively, Sousa's signing would be an obvious gamble by any Championship side this summer.

However, at 23, he has already gained experience playing for one of Brazil's biggest clubs in Botafogo, and has played both second and first tier football in Belgium across his spells with Cercle Brugge and RWD Molenbeek respectively.

Therefore, he's evidently a young centre-back that many feel has a bright future in the game ahead of him, as for a defender, he is still very much in the infancy of his career.

As such, Derby, Coventry, QPR, Middlesbrough and Swansea City could all surely do worse than to take a punt on a promising young defender from the continent.

Given The Athletic report that Swansea and Molenbeek's disagreement in valuation was only a small one, that would suggest that the Swans weren't far off meeting the asking price for him with their approximate £858,000 bid.

So, he may not prove to be a real costly signing either. Regardless, there's nothing quite as exciting as a football fan from these shores than seeing your club linked with the potential signing of a young Brazilian talent, is there?