When the Santos president Modesto Roma visited London last week, this trip was supposed to be a secret. But it was quickly found out about, and now his days in the English capital are the biggest source of rumours about the club.
Lance has an article on Friday saying Modesto Roma heard from Chelsea directors that the Blues are interested in Thiago Maia.
As Santos haven’t paid the squad salaries for two months now, they need to pick a player to sell and settle their debts. So instead of Gabigol, who is not attracting interest from England, they’ve reportedly chosen Maia to go.
Chelsea have been linked to Maia for a while now, so hearing it from the London club’s board is basically the confirmation of what was being published in Brazil in the past few weeks.
Santos would want something between €15m and €20m for the midfielder, as the club have only 72% of his economic rights. Atletico Madrid and Napoli would also be interested.
However, it’s no secret that Thiago Maia doesn’t want to leave now. The player has been saying this for months, and in contact with Lance, his uncle and agent Vanderi Maia said the same: “He’s not leaving this window, he wants to stay for more time. The most likely is that he leaves in the middle of next year, so he can play the Copa Libertadores before.”
Lance also claims that Chelsea would be interested in the Santos right back Daniel Guedes. The Blues would have the competition of Napoli for this signing as well.
We must say this is a quite strange rumour. Despite having a tough injury last year, which left him out for nine months, Guedes was never a starter for Santos. He’s been fit since May, but only played two cup games this season.
He’s an intelligent player who seems to have some potential, but not enough for the Premier League to come and get him from Santos’ bench. According to Globo Esporte, he’d go to Chelsea’s B team.
Despite it not making a great deal of sense, the interest in Guedes is good news for Santos. Maybe a good bid for the right-back would mean they could keep Maia in the squad, at least for now.
