Chelsea warned they’re making a big mistake after slamming door on January deal
A player’s agent has warned Chelsea of the perils of refusing to sanction a January move after repeated efforts to secure a deal were all blocked, per a report.
Chelsea’s youth ranks were gutted last summer when several of their top prospects were poached. Tino Livramento was snapped up by Southampton and has already become a regular starter in the Premier League on the south coast.
Lewis Bate moved to Leeds, while Myles Peart-Harris left for Brentford. That trio were just a handful of the rising stars the Blues waved goodbye to. And predictably, their Under-23s team is suffering as a result.
In the current Premier League 2 campaign, Chelsea sit 11th in the 14-team league. That puts Chelsea under threat of relegation, with the bottom two to go down.
With that in mind, the agent of Blues defender Xavier Mbuyamba has hit out at the club after they refused to sanction a loan exit for his client.
Mbuyamba is a 20-year-old centre-half signed from Barcelona in 2020. He has featured heavily in the Under-23s this season, and was on the bench for Chelsea’s EFL Cup Third Round victory over Aston Villa in September.
Chelsea stunting Mbuyamba’s growth – Barros
However, his agent, Carlos Barros, believes the time is right for Mbuyamba to develop his game further with competitive, first-team action.
Italian side Hellas Verona were linked with a loan approach earlier in January. They were deemed willing to satisfy his demand for top level football by integrating him into their first-team.
However, Mbuyamba has remained at Stamford Bridge, and Barros has claimed Chelsea are making a mistake by stunting his client’s growth. In doing so, he claimed the Blues have blocked several loan opportunities from the UK and the Netherlands.
“We have had talks with Chelsea about Xavier’s future all month,” Barros told Goal.
“There is a difference of opinion, to be honest. We feel that he is best served by going on loan but they want to keep him to help their Under-23s who are struggling.
“We’re a bit frustrated because we have options in the UK and Dutch Eredivisie but they are currently being blocked.
“We just wanted to be open about the situation because we feel like the situation may slow down his development as a player.”
Blues chasing Brazilian phenom
Meanwhile, Chelsea and Man City have a ‘very good chance’ of signing Brazilian wonderkid Endrick who is already being compared with Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
That’s according to Sky Sports, who put the pair ahead of Man Utd and Liverpool in the race. The young striker is just 15 years of age. However, he has already shown what he is capable of to devastating effect.
In the latest Copinha tournament for Under-20s held in Sao Paolo, Endrick put the world on notice. The teen bagged five goals across three matches in just 90 minutes of combined action. That was despite lining up against older players, with Endrick earning both the tournament’s MVP award and Goal of the Tournament accolade.
Endrick cannot sign for an overseas club until he turns 18. However, he will be free to sign a pre-contract agreement when he turns 16 in July. Predictably, interest in Endrick is far-reaching, and a fierce transfer battle is expected to be waged next summer.
Chelsea and Man City are described as believing they have a ‘very good chance’ of signing him. Liverpool and Man Utd are also namechecked and both ‘will try to sign him’. From further afield, PSG, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Real Madrid are credited with interest.
It’s perhaps Real Madrid who could provide the stiffest competition for the English clubs. Los Blancos are noted to be Endrick’s favourite team in Europe. Furthermore, he is represented by the same agents as Real’s Brazilian ace, Vinicius Jr.
Palmeiras already value the 15-year-old who they are comparing to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo around the €40m mark. They hope to recoup a larger fee than the €30m they collected from Man City for Gabriel Jesus in 2016.
READ MORE: Euro Paper Talk: Chelsea bully past Liverpool to close in on perfect £50m Tuchel signing
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