Chelsea hit major hurdle in their elaborate plan to sign Matheus Franca

Chelsea not able to move forward with the Matheus Franca deal as the player does not want to go to Strasbourg first

As per a tweet from Blue Footy, via The Athletic journalist Simon Johnson, Chelsea remain interested in young Brazilian attacking midfielder Matheus Franca but a deal is not advanced because the player does not want to go to Strasbourg first.

The Flamengo would want to straight away come to the Premier League and play for the Blues if the deal is done this summer. He is reluctant to spend a season at Chelsea’s sister club Strasbourg first.

A couple of weeks ago, the Athletic (subscription required) revealed that Franca is a subject of interest for Crystal Palace too. Evening Standard reported that Flamengo told Chelsea to pay £21m if they want to sign the 19-year-old.

Franca is a number 10 who can play as a support striker or an attacking central midfielder in a three-man midfield. He can play on either side of the winger too. He started his career as a youth player at Flamengo before making a senior debut for them in 2021.

He has scored nine goals in 54 appearances for the Brazilian Serie A side, while not even amassing 2000 minutes in that time (Transfermarkt). It shows that most of his appearances so far have come as a substitute off the bench.

Chelsea have signed a lot of young talented players from several countries to build a strong group of young players who can develop here and hopefully fight for a place in the senior team in due course.

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Although Franca is a highly-talented player, he still lacks experience in coming to Chelsea and immediately playing for the senior team. So, it might make sense to sign him and send him on loan to Strasbourg. Now, if the player does not want to choose that route, the club cannot force him to.