€25m Matheus Franca may prove a hard battle for Chelsea to win

Chelsea are still in the race for Matheus Franca, according to reports from Brazil translated by using SportWitness.

Crystal Palace has emerged as front runners within a final couple of weeks, following a spell where Chelsea has been talked up because of the maximum likely destination. But the Blues are still nicely within the race, regardless of having simply signed Angelo Gabriel from Santos.

Flamengo needs €25m for the winger, who virtually looks like a talent but is quite unproven.

Chelsea’s plan seems to be to ship Franca to Strasbourg on mortgage, alongside Angelo Gabriel. That may also be counted against them if the youngster prefers a move immediately to the Premier League. Palace can provide him that however, Strasbourg can’t.

Todd Boehly’s new setup has a focal point on lowering the wage bill too, so it’s perfectly viable for Palace to provide him a higher deal financially if they truly see him as a future superstar and Chelsea as a satellite tv for pc club player.