Chelsea look set to unveil the signing of another wonderkid after Angelo Gabriel's father prematurely confirmed his son's transfer to Stamford Bridge. The 18-year-old has been heavily linked with a move to west London recently as Mauricio Pochettino looks to further bolster the club with some of the world's most exciting young players.
Gabriel, who sees his contract at the Estádio Urbano Caldeira expire in 2024, has featured 12 times for Santos in the Brazilian top-flight so far this season, directly contributing towards two goals. Despite having struggled at times, the winger has reportedly courted the interest of the Blues, who could formally announce his arrival in the coming days.
According to the Evening Standard , Chelsea have been in advanced talks to sign the Brazil youth international in a deal worth around £13million. Gabriel has long been regarded as one of the top prospects in his home country and the west Londoners will be hoping that he can follow in the footsteps of Neymar and Pele, who also earned their stripes at Santos.
Now, according to Fabrizio Romano, Chelsea have secured the teenage sensation's signature and he'll join the first-team for their pre-season tour of the United States. The Blues are set to play four games in the US and the first of which comes against Wrexham on July 20.
Three days later, Mauricio Pochettino's side will lock horns with Brighton. Then, on July 27, the West Londoners will face Newcastle United and finally Fulham on July 30 before returning to their Cobham training ground to finalise their preparations for the new Premier League season.
While Gabriel is expected to be loaned out to new affiliate club Strasbourg, his father has described his 'enormous happiness' at the move to Chelsea. In an interview with Brazilian outlet A Tribuna, as quoted by talkSPORT , he said:
"It’s an enormous happiness without explanation, but with a bit of a heavy heart. "My wife and Idene Dias Damasceno, his mother, will be with him for at least the first six months, until he adapts to the climate, which is completely different. It’s another country, another language, morals. It helps a lot to have two Brazilians on the team."
No less than two weeks ago, Andrey Santos posted an image of himself during Pochettino's first training session at Cobham. In the comment section, Gabriel posted two blue circle emojis . With a blue heart emoji, Santos simply replied:
"See you soon." With the winger set to test himself with the Chelsea first- team in the US, the former Tottenham boss has given him a taste of what to expect . Speaking to Chelsea's official website, the 51-year-old said:
"For me, it is a pleasure and honour to now be involved with Chelsea Football Club. "We are so excited, and I know Chelsea very well, it is one of the greatest clubs in the world. So of course, it was easy for us to make the decision to move here. We are so happy that today we can start here at Cobham in the training ground and meet the people and the staff.
"It is exciting for us and what we want is to bring the happiness again to this great football club. We will work hard, play in a way the fans can enjoy football, and the history of Chelsea is to win - but it is important also in the way we are going to build those victories.
"We are excited, so happy, and are very grateful to all the people. Of course, it starts with [chairman] Todd (Boehly), [co-controlling owners] Behdad (Eghbali), Jose (E. Feliciano), and after all the people really welcomed us today and a few days ago when we arrived for the first time at Cobham."