Exclusive says Chelsea missed out on “new Marcelo” because of this plan | OneFootball

Now that the transfer window has closed, we can take stock of what was a typically busy January.

From Chelsea’s point of view, they had great success in terms of moving players on, but not so much in terms of buying. They got a new defender to arrive in the summer, and a new midfielder who will serve a sort of first team apprenticeship, but nobody to help the first team right now beyond the loan recall of Trevoh Chalobah.

One talent they missed out on – again, someone who wouldn’t have been first team ready yet anyway – was Joao Victor de Souza. The young left back is being called “the new Marcelo” and has been linked with Chelsea for some time.

CaughtOffside’s exclusive piece claims that the Blues intended to sign 18 year old and loan him directly to Strasbourg, who saw their on-loan Chelsea left back Caleb Wiley recalled. This period of being parked in Ligue 1 was seen as an “important part of his adaptation to European football.”

Other teams set to benefit from Chelsea’s hesitant approach

João Victor de Souza in a photo from Santos FC.

The problem is that the youngster seemingly wasn’t interested in slow and steady, and he and his agent turned down the move with an eye on a switch directly to the Premier League. CaughtOffside say Arsenal could be the team to benefit if they make a more direct move this summer, with Barcelona also waiting in the wings.

We’re not out of this race, but it’s interesting to see that there is a certain type of player who will happily just turn down the chance for a Strasbourg stint. You’ve got to respect the self confidence. This delay of the move allows him another 6 months to keep playing at Santos anyway, which can hardly be bad for him.