Chelsea youngster 'on verge' of transfer to Saudi Pro League
A Chelsea starlet could be on his way to Saudi Arabia.
Chelsea starlet Angelo Gabriel, more commonly known by the mononym of Angelo, is ‘on the verge’ of a transfer to Saudi Pro League outfit Al Nassr for a fee of £19.5 million.
This is according to a recent report from the Evening Standard. Angelo has been at Chelsea for just over a year - he was purchased by the club in the summer transfer window of 2023 from Santos for a fee in the region of £13 million.
As such, should the 19 year old’s proposed transfer to Al Nassr be completed, the Blues would net a tidy profit of £6.5 million. Furthermore, Besiktas have also recently been linked with a move for Angelo’s signature.
He failed to make a single senior team appearance in any competition for Chelsea during his time at the club - last season, Angelo spent the campaign out on loan at Strasbourg. He made 21 Ligue 1 appearances for Les Bleu et Blanc, but did not score any goals during this period.
A promising young star when he first started out at Santos, he made his debut for the club at the age of just 15. He would go on to make 95 league appearances for the club before he was snapped up by Chelsea.
At Al Nassr, Angelo will play alongside global footballing superstars such as Sadio Mane, Aymeric Laporte and Cristiano Ronaldo. While he may find it difficult to break into their squad, training alongside such notable names can only be beneficial to his career in the long term.
Last season, they finished second in the Saudi Pro League, 14 points behind champions Al Hilal (who won the league without losing a single game all season). Despite this, they also finished 17 points ahead of Al Ahli in third place and accumulated an impressive goal difference of +58.