Perfect Matic Partner? Chelsea Set To Sign £29m Rated DM

Chelsea are ready to make a bid to sign Porto’s hotly-tipped midfield ace Ruben Neves when the transfer window reopens in January, but will have to settle off the player’s £29m release clause.

This is the claim of Tuttomercatoweb who say the Blues have been linked with Neves over the last few months and boss Jose Mourinho is keen to raid his former club of one of their prized assets.

The Italian outlet goes further to postulate that Chelsea will make an offer for the Portuguese ace in the near future, preferably the January transfer window, but Neves’ £29m release clause could be a stumbling block.

Neves, 19, started his career in 2005 when he joined Porto’s youth team, before he progressed through the youth ranks until the Under-17s.

He played 77 minutes in Porto’s defeat of Chelsea during the midweek and impressed against the west London club, who are the current champion of the English Premier League. Neves had a loan spell at Padroense for a short time during the 2012/13 season and has since appeared for the Portugal U-16s all the way up until the U-21s.

The all-action midfielder made his professional debut with Porto back in August 2014 and became the youngest player in the club’s history to score a goal on his debut in the Primeira Liga.

Neves broke another record when he made his debut for Porto in the Champions League in 2014, becoming the youngest player to do so for the Portuguese giants.

Chelsea’s disastrous season continued yesterday as they fell to another defeat to Southampton at Stamford Bridge, with the Blues boss Jose Mourinho bringing in first-choice defensive midfielder at half-time and later substituting the Serbian for Loic Remy as they chased the game. Mourinho revealed afterwards that Matic was not in the right frame of mind and was physically ready.