Chelsea make two more signings as Boehly tells AC Milan to pay £21m for flop ‘keen’ to leave
Chelsea have confirmed the signings of 18-year-old talents Diego Moreira from Benfica and Alex Matos from Norwich City as the club work on an exit route for Christian Pulisic.
The Blues have been eager to bring in young talent since Todd Boehly bought the club from Roman Abramovich and Moreira and Matos will join fellow teenagers Andrey Santos, Gabriel Slonina, Carney Chukwuemeka, Jimmy-Jay Morgan, and Cesare Casadei at Stamford Bridge.
The Premier League club confirmed the acquisition of both players on July 1 when they officially became free agents.
Moreira is a Portugal Under-21 international and is currently at the European Championships, where he has featured against Belgium and the Netherlands.
The 18-year-old mainly featured for Benfica’s B-team last season but played a huge part in the club’s 2022 UEFA Youth League triumph.
Matos, meanwhile, received his Norwich U21 debut last term after becoming a regular for the U18 side.
Chelsea are still working on the sales of several first-team players, with American winger Pulisic likely to be the next out of the door.
READ MORE: Pulisic, Mendy, Auba good as gone: Ranking the Chelsea squad by likeliness of a summer sale
Hakim Ziyech was expected to move to Saudi Arabia, where he would join Edouard Mendy and Kalidou Koulibaly, but the £8million move fell through after a knee issue was raised in his Al Nassr medical.
This means Boehly will be even more eager to let Pulisic leave, though it does not seem like he is budging on his £21.4m asking price.
According to Fabrizio Romano, Pulisic is ‘keen’ to join AC Milan, as he ‘would love’ to start a new chapter in Italy.
Chelsea are ‘insisting’ on their ‘€25m (£21.4m) asking price’ and the Serie A giants are hoping to ‘pay less than this’ with ‘talks continuing’.
Milan have also been linked with Adama Traore and Valencia midfielder Yunus Musah.
A separate report from TuttoMercatoWeb says Pulisic and Milan have reached a ‘total understanding’ with a transfer increasingly likely.
The 24-year-old apparently ‘only wants’ Milan and has a ‘long-term agreement’ in place.
Pulisic will even take a ‘substantial’ wage cut but the Rossoneri want to sign the player for as little as €15m (£12.8m), which is unlikely to be accepted by Chelsea.
READ MORE: £105m for Declan Rice? How much would Rooney, Terry and other England greats be worth in 2023?
