Chelsea have announced that Angelo Gabriel will spend the season on loan at Strasbourg.
Last month, the Blues signed the winger from Santos for a fee believed to be in the region of £13m, with the suggestion at the time being that the teenager would go straight to France.
However, the 18-year-old has instead played a part in Chelsea's pre-season plans, participating in three of the five fixtures in the USA.
Angelo accumulated a total of 117 minutes in fixtures against Wrexham, Brighton & Hove Albion and Fulham respectively, providing an assist in the first of those outings.
At the same time, it was being reported that Angelo had made an impression on head coach Mauricio Pochettino, who was allegedly open to keeping the player in his senior ranks for 2023-24.
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Nevertheless, Chelsea have now revealed that Angelo will make the previously-anticipated switch to Ligue 1 where he will represent a club that is now in the control of Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital.
Angelo is joining a team that are now managed by Patrick Vieira and have already spent around €32m on Club Brugge defender Abakar Sylla and Sturm Graz forward Emanuel Emegha this summer.
During his time with Santos, Angelo chipped in with five goals and 10 assists from 129 appearances, largely from the right-hand side of midfield.
The move comes on the same day when Chelsea announced their squad numbers for the new campaign, Angelo a notable absentee from that list alongside Cesare Casadei, Diego Moreira, Hakim Ziyech, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Romelu Lukaku.
Chelsea are also in the process of trying to sign Angelo's former Chelsea teammate Deivid Washington, who may join him in Strasbourg in due course.
Darren Plant
