€100k to €11m?
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Chelsea’s transfer strategy under the ownership of Clearlake Capital of signing youngsters with enormous potential has been clear. The Europa Conference League winners have signed numerous starlets across the last few seasons with South American wonderkids Estêvão and Kendry Páez moving to Stamford Bridge this summer. Chelsea’s strategy has received substantial criticism but there is undoubtedly merit to their policy – if they can develop talents before selling them for profit, should they not make the grade for the first-team.
Time will ultimately tell whether their strategy will be successful but they are favourites to complete the acquisition of another youngster in Bright Ede. It’s understood that Chelsea chiefs met with Ede’s representatives when they were in Wroclaw for their Conference League win over Real Betis. The 18-year-old only made his professional debut last season but he’s viewed as an exceptional talent with Chelsea leading the race to sign him – Arsenal have also scouted him extensively.
Who is Bright Ede?
The Polish defender remarkably only moved from Zaglebie Lubin to Motor Lublin in January for €100k but he’s already been linked with a big-money exit. Ede has only made six appearances in the Ekstraklasa but he excelled and it’s understood that Motor Lublin value him at around €11m. Chelsea are weighing up a move this summer and they would automatically loan him out to sister club Strasbourg. The Blues enjoyed great success with that partnership last season with Andrey Santos excelling and Ede could replace Mamadou Sarr at Strasbourg with the centre-back expected to move to Chelsea this summer.
Michael Sroka, Polish football expert at Transfermarkt, has provided his verdict on Ede, stating: “It’s too soon to draw conclusions on Ede as he’s only played six first-team games, which isn’t anywhere near a big enough sample size. But he’s physically strong with a good left foot and he’s shown excellent vision to build attacks from defence. He remains extremely raw and the fact that Zaglebie Lubin sold him 5 months ago for €100k has certainly raised eyebrows.”
