Late on Thursday, The Mirror published an article reporting that Chelsea had joined the race to try and sign Gremio’s much coveted midfielder Arthur.
Recently pictured in a Barcelona shirt, the 21-year-old tried to play down rumours he was set to sign for the La Liga giants, but did admit he had spoken to them in the past.
Well, Sport have taken the matter into their own hands on Friday and gone all out, claiming the Blues are too late, and (would you believe it?) he’ll be moving to Catalonia in the near future.
Confirming the information first published in The Mirror, the Spanish newspaper state Barcelona have already reached an agreement with Gremio that would see Lionel Messi’s side get a first-option on the young starlet.
This allows gives them an advantage over the rest of the teams interested in Arthur, a player who is said to ‘admire’ Andres Iniesta and be dying to wear the blaugrana shirt.
Barcelona have already let him know that they want to sign him in the future, and he’s said yes to them.
This means that if teams like Chelsea come in with a €50m bid (the amount of his release clause), Arthur would simply turn them down and wait for Barcelona to make their move.
The ‘channels are open’ between Gremio and Barcelona, meaning talks are already underway in some shape or form.
Antonio Conte is said to see Arthur as a ‘very interesting player’, but it looks like Chelsea have lost out this time.
