Chelsea decided to part ways with head coach Mauricio Pochettino at the end of the 2023/24 campaign after he led the club to a sixth-placed finish in the Premier League.
The Argentine boss, who previously managed Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton in England, was relieved of his duties and the Blues are now reportedly closing in on his successor.
Fabrizio Romano claims that the London giants are in contact with Leicester City, who have just been promoted as Championship champions, to agree compensation for manager Enzo Maresca.
The Italian reporter states that the former Manchester City coach has ‘no doubts’ about taking on the role and that a contract is now being finalised for the promotion-winning manager.
Jacob Steinberg, of The Guardian, has since added that the Italian tactician is poised to put pen to paper on a five-year contract at Stamford Bridge, with a move seemingly imminent.
Whilst Maresca has not yet been officially unveiled as the new first-team head coach at Chelsea, the club are already reportedly in talks to seal what could be his first signing as the manager.
Chelsea in advanced talks to sign teenage dynamo
According to FootballTransfers, the Blues are in advanced talks to secure a deal for 17-year-old right-back Pedro Lima as a future prospect for the Premier League giants.
The report claims that they are looking to wrap up a move for the Sport Recife full-back and have submitted an offer worth €8m (£6.8m) to land his services.
It states that Sport Recife president Yuri Romao has travelled over to England to hold talks with Chelsea to reach an agreement with the English side.
The outlet adds that Premier League champions Manchester City, and ‘leading’ clubs in Spain and Italy, are also providing competition for the young defender’s signature.
However, Chelsea are the team in advanced negotiations with Sport Recife to sign Lima, which suggests that they are currently leading the race for the 17-year-old ace.
FootballTransfers does reveal, though, that the youngster does not yet qualify for a work permit and could be sent on loan to French affiliate side Strasbourg next season, in order to accumulate enough points to then link up with his new team at Stamford Bridge for the 2025/26 campaign.
This means that Lima, who could come through the door as the first official signing of the Maresca era if a deal is done in the coming days, could be Malo Gusto 2.0 for the Blues.
Malo Gusto’s route to being a Chelsea star
In January 2023, Todd Boehly swooped to sign the teenage right-back from Lyon for a reported fee of £26.3m but sent him back on loan to the Ligue 1 side for the remainder of the campaign.
The then-19-year-old starlet put pen to paper on a seven and a half year contract with the Premier League club and continued his development in France over the subsequent five months.
Gusto ultimately ended the 2022/23 campaign with 21 appearances and 19 starts in Ligue 1 for Lyon, which helped to prepare him to come in and fight for a spot in the Chelsea side.
His experience in his home country helped to set him up to attack this season at Stamford Bridge, as the now-21-year-old racked up 27 top-flight matches for the Blues.
The France international enjoyed a terrific first season in the Premier League with his fantastic ability to create chances for his teammates from a right-back position.
| Malo Gusto vs full-backs | |
|---|---|
| 23/24 Premier League (per 90) | Percentile rank |
| Expected Assisted Goals (0.22) | Top 6% |
| Assists (0.31) | Top 4% |
| Shot-creating actions (2.67) | Top 18% |
| Progressive passes (4.42) | Top 24% |
| Progressive carries (4.01) | Top 3% |
| Stats via FBRef | |
As you can see in the table above, Gusto ranked highly amongst his positional peers in the division in a host of key creative statistics, including assists and xAG.
He ended the campaign with an eye-catching return of eight ‘big chances’ created and six assists in 19 Premier League starts for the Blues, which shows that the young gem can bomb forward on the overlap to provide a threat in the final third.
Gusto has established himself as a key player in the first-team, and impressive performer as shown by the aforementioned statistics, after spending time on loan in France initially to gain more experience.
Lima can now follow in his footsteps and be Gusto 2.0 for Chelsea by becoming Maresca’s first signing for the club before going out on loan to Strasbourg for the 2024/25 campaign.
Why Pedro Lima could be Malo Gusto 2.0
Firstly, a loan move to Ligue 1 would see him go through the same experience that the French dynamo went through before his emergence in the first-team in London.
Lima could go to Strasbourg and, hopefully, play regular first-team football in a major European league to gain valuable experience as a right-back at the top level.
The 17-year-old has already played 24 senior matches for Sport Recife, chipping in with two goals and two assists in that time, but would come in with zero experience in Europe, which is why an initial loan could be a fantastic move for him.
Due to his limited game time at first-team level so far, there is not much in the way of evidence to confidently claim that he has the quality to be a star for Chelsea.
However, his form for Brazil’s U17s at the World Cup last summer suggests that the potential is there for him to provide a Gusto-esque attacking threat.
| 2023 U17 World Cup | Pedro Lima |
|---|---|
| Appearances | 5 |
| Assists | 1 |
| Big chances created | 1 |
| Key passes per game | 2.4 |
| Dribbles completed per game | 1.2 |
| Stats via Sofascore | |
As you can see in the table above, Lima created more than two chances per game on average across his five appearances at the tournament.
The Chelsea target also made a staggering 4.8 tackles and interceptions combined per game, whilst no Blues player made more than 4.0 per match in the Premier League this season, and this suggests that he also has the ability to win possession back frequently for his team.
There is no guarantee that his form at the tournament will translate to European football, and the Premier League specifically, in the future but it does provide an insight into the type of full-back Chelsea could be signing.
