23 G/A in 116 appearances – versatile midfielder could be latest Ecuador star in Premier League | OneFootball

Patrik Mercado is the latest young talent to be linked to be linked to Chelsea as he continues his rise for Independiente del Valle.

Chelsea are being linked with transfer interest Patrik Mercado, the latest brilliant talent to come out of Independiente Del Valle. TeamTalk today report that the Blues are among a group of European teams chasing the young midfielder.

The 22 year old is apparently “attracting serious interest ahead of a pivotal summer move.”

The other teams with whom talks have taken place are a tier below us: Wolfsburg, Braga and Sevilla are all named, as are some Brazilian clubs. But perhaps his club form has remained so good that bigger and bigger sides are taking an interest. The report names Fulham, Brighton and Bournemouth as more recent additions to the queue.

In Chelsea’s case, a Strasbourg move is suggested to prepare the youngster for a potential future Premier League switch.

Mercado can play a number of midfield roles, and despite his age already has more than 100 senior appearances, scoring 11 and picking up 13 assists.

Smaller South American nation stepping up

Patrik Mecado playing for Independiente. (Photo by Rodrigo Valle/Getty Images)

Chelsea’s Moises Caicedo is not the only start to have recently been produced by Independiente. Arsenal’s Piero Hincapie, and Willian Pacho of PSG are also top tier players to come out in recent years.

For a country with a small population, they’re really starting to compete with Argentina and Brazil in terms of the footballers they’re outputting.

In other news…

One bad habit we had from Enzo Maresca’s time in charge has just been repeated by Liam Rosenior. We hope to see something change.

Chelsea’s recent form has been a little masked by an FA Cup win and a late winner over West Ham, as pundits have pointed out.

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