Chelsea 'set to sign Santos starlet Deivid Washington'

Chelsea are reportedly on the brink of adding yet another Brazilian starlet to their squad in the form of Deivid Washington.

With less than a week remaining until the start of the new Premier League campaign, head coach Mauricio Pochettino is known to want to add more experience to his squad.

That particularly rings true in central midfield with Conor Gallagher currently the senior player at 23 years of age, but the ownership is seemingly continuing to prioritise youth and future.

Since the turn of the year, Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital have signed a wide array of prospects from around the world, including Andrey Santos and Angelo Gabriel from Brazil.

Santos, formerly of Vasco Da Gama, is increasingly likely to remain in Pochettino's plans for 2023-24, while ex-Santos winger Angelo Gabriel has also allegedly pushed himself into the Argentine's thinking for this season.

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According to transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, Chelsea's Brazilian contingent is now going to be further boosted by the acquisition of Deivid.

Like Angelo, Deivid plies his trade for Santos where he has contributed a total of two goals from 16 first-team outings for the Brasileiro Serie A outfit.

Those two strikes have come in 425 minutes of top-flight football in 2023, with the 18-year-old netting in successive games against Bahia and Vasco Da Gama.

However, it now appears that his future will be spent away from Vila Belmiro with Chelsea, according to Globo, submitting a €20m (£17.3m) proposal.

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Deivid is said to have already agreed personal terms with Chelsea and a transfer is now expected to be finalised before a loan switch to Strasbourg.

BlueCo, a consortium led by Chelsea's owners, recently purchased the French club, with more than one of Chelsea's prospects in line to link up with Patrick Vieira's side for the 2023-24 campaign.

That had initially been the plan, and may still be, for Angelo, but it is alleged that part of the agreement with Deivid is that he will play in Ligue 1.

Midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu, who has just been signed from Rennes, is another player in contention to return to his homeland, depending on whether he impresses Pochettino sufficiently enough to represent Chelsea during the upcoming campaign.