DONE DEAL: Chelsea complete ‘secret transfer’ for striker as player joins before summer
Chelsea have prepared a pathway to see a new striker join the club shortly before heading to RC Strasbourg on loan, reports suggest. The Blues have been keen to snap up young talent across the planet in the past 18 months as part of a recruitment drive from their new owners, and are showing no signs of slowing down.
They have already secured a deal for talented Senegal teenager Pape Daouda Diong, who trained with the club earlier this season having arrived from AF Darou Salam. He has also attended a game at Stamford Bridge as he watched on alongside Ecuadorian wonderkid Kendry Paez during the Carabao Cup win over Newcastle in December.
Kendry Paez is seen as one of the best pieces of business done in this sector since the new owners took over with the Blues moving quickly to sign the midfielder ahead of rivals. He will join up with the first team upon his 18th birthday.
The club are not done just there though. Despite questions being asked of how such wide-ranging and expansive youth investment will bring about first-team success, Soccernet write that Nigerian forward Hafiz Umar Ibrahim has arrived at the club on a two-week trial.
The club also offered similar terms to teenage left-back David Oduro in January. Based at Cobham, the club have implemented a new tool to aid their scouting, which allows players from across the world to compare their physical and technical abilities with those of the current Cobham academy.
Ibrahim, 18, is the latest to try and force his way into the reckoning though, taking up the chance having turned down Norwegian side Bodo/Glimt earlier this year. Chelsea even turned to Raheem Sterling to get Ibrahim through the door, placing the pair on a call alongside what appears to be co-recruitment director Joe Shields.
Lolasde Adewuyi says that Ibrahim had his UK Visa confirmed last week and has now landed in London ahead of training with the club. If successful, there is a plan to get him on the books at BlueCo owned Ligue 1 outfit Strasbourg sooner rather than later to aid his development.
This might come to the frustration of fans of the French outfit though, as they made their views clear last month on the impact that BlueCo were having, and the frustration towards the drop in team age, experience, and subsequently quality. Chelsea see Ibrahim as a player of great promise though after he rose to prominence by scoring 10 goals in six games at the Viareggio Cup for Ojodu City FC in a tournament for pre-eminent talents.
Ibrahim has stated that on-loan Chelsea striker Romelu Lukaku is his role model, being comfortable on his left foot but also confident on his right. He named Luis Suarez and Zlatan Ibrahimovich among his other idols and is aiming to repay the faith of those that have offered him a chance to play at the top level.
“I want to help my family and the people around me,” he said. “Football is what will give me the tool to help people. They have been praying for me and I can feel that their prayers are working. I won’t disappoint them.” He is also on the radar of AC Milan, Inter, Fiorentina, and Sassuolo.