Chelsea Officials Fly To Portugal On SURPRISING Transfer Mission

Reports seething in the Portuguese media presently is that Chelsea scouts were in Portugal last night to watch the Primeira Liga clash between Sporting Lisbon and Tondela. Sport Witness reckons the Premier League champions were constant visitors to Portugal last season and they watched several games involving the top Portuguese clubs including Benfica, Porto, Sporting Lisbon and Braga.

SW cites O Jogo who claimed Chelsea’s representatives who were at last night’s game were the only ones from the Premier League who watched the first Portuguese Primeira League game of the season. Sporting Lisbon won the game 2-1 but nothing is known yet about the player the Blues’ scouts were watching last night. However, there was a plethora of talented players on show including the likes of Andre Carrillo, Islam Slimani and Teofillo Gutierrez. Sporting’s star William Carvalho did not feature in coach Jorge Jesus’ first league game in charge of the club, after the manager switched from Benfica recently.

The Portuguese league has become a hotbed for upcoming talents, and several top clubs in Europe have been taking advantage by snapping up these players for relatively low fees. Cristiano Ronaldo’s £12.2m sale to Manchester United in 2003 is a clear example, and the Real Madrid superstar is, at the moment, the best footballer on earth. Many of these clubs are not financially upright and as such, they are been forced to sell their young talents to balance the books. Nevertheless, the top three clubs have now been open to the reality of losing their talented youngsters and therefore, they have responded by making their youngsters commit to long term contracts with huge buy-out clauses in order to not lose them on the cheap.