£17m transfer flop already linked with moves home as Chelsea prepare to admit failure | OneFootball

Nizaar Kinsella has just dropped a small but interesting transfer exclusive for BBC Sport. He claims that Brazilian giants Santos are one of the clubs interested in taking their former player Deivid Washington back from Chelsea on loan this month.

The 19 year old has not featured for the first time since the end of last season, and has been kicking around in the Development Squad. Now he wants senior minutes, but a lack of top level action since arriving in London means there’s precious little interest in signing him it seems.

Chelsea are crying out for a backup centre forward, but Washington isn’t even being considered by Enzo Maresca.

As Kinsella points out, however, there’s a major issue here with registration. Chelsea only have one international loan slot available, and have much more expensive and highly paid assets they’d likely prefer to use it on.

If we get to the end of the window and there’s still a space, a move makes sense. But we’re sure a domestic loan would be massively preferred. But who is going to make an offer for a guy who is only used to youth team football in England? A League One team? It’s hardly ideal for Chelsea or Washington.

Washington deal already looking like a total flop just 18 months on

To us, it’s pretty clear that Washington never had the potential to be a good signing. Just look back at the reaction in Brazil when he signed for £17m and compare it to when we signed Estevao Willian. The winger was being called the new Neymar – while the Washington bid didn’t really excite anyone, even in his home country.

The fact we paid so much for him when he was so unproven looks like madness now. This loan back seems like the inevitable first step towards quietly moving him on while taking a loss.