Chelsea are hoping to conclude a €6.25 million deal for Fluminense forward Kenedy, according to reports.
The Guardian’s website claims that the recently crowned Premier League champions are pushing to secure Kenedy, who has also been followed by Manchester United in recent months.
The 19 year-old would not qualify for a work permit to immediately go to Chelsea, if a deal is agreed, so it is likely that he would be sent to Eredivisie outfit Vitesse Arnhem on loan for at least one season.
Kenedy has largely come to prominence due to his performances for Brazil’s youth teams. He has been capped at both under-17 and under-20 level and had an impact at both.
With the under-17’s, he netted six goals to help Brazil to a third place finish at the 2013 South American Under-17 Football Championship, while in January he scored once in the under-20 version of that tournament.
At Fluminense, he has featured regularly over the last season, or so, but is yet to make a telling impression.
Since making his Brasileirão debut in 2013, he has gone on to score twice in 31 league matches.
This season, he has featured once in the Copa Sudamericana and also started Fluminense’s opening 2015 Brasileirão match against Joinville, which they won 1-0.
If Chelsea secure a deal for Kenedy, then it will likely be the second Brazilian teenager they sign in the summer transfer window, with Atlético Paranaense’s Nathan all but confirmed.
