Exclusive: Lamine Yamal convinced Barcelona to let wonderkid seal Chelsea transfer instead, says expert
Lamine Yamal’s rise at Barcelona was a key reason behind the club deciding not to follow up their interest in Palmeiras wonderkid Estevao Willian, who will now join Chelsea in 2025 instead.
That’s according to Fabrizio Romano as the transfer news expert spoke exclusively to CaughtOffside for his latest Daily Briefing column about how Chelsea managed to win the race for Estevao’s signature when there was a lot of other interest in the 17-year-old Brazilian.
Jonathan Johnson told us yesterday about PSG’s pursuit of Estevao before he joined Chelsea, and it seems Romano is also aware of Barca looking at him before deciding they had a similar talent of their own in the form of Yamal, who has been a revelation since moving up from the Catalan giants’ academy into their first-team.
Yamal has been a joy to watch for Barcelona in recent times, and also proved a key player for Spain as they won Euro 2024 in the summer, so it’s hard to argue with the La Liga club’s decision.
Yamal and Estevao transfer decision explained
Estevao could surely have been a fine signing for Barcelona, but Chelsea will be delighted they were able to get this deal done, and it seems they partly have Yamal to thank for that.
“Chelsea were one of several clubs interested in Estevao, but in reality all of the top European clubs were very attentive to his situation,” Romano said.
“He was on Barcelona’s list for example, and they wanted him before Lamine Yamal started to show what an exceptional talent he is.
“For sure Chelsea believe they’ve signed a top player for the present and future, and one who they believe can play as right winger but also as a number 10.”
It will be intriguing to see how Estevao adapts to European football once he moves to Stamford Bridge, as it could be that he and Yamal will be among the very finest players in the world in their position for many years to come.
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