Chelsea Said to be Interested in Signing World Cup Wonderkid

Although, as always, Chelsea fans are paying attention to club matters. Who comes in, who comes out, Xabi Alonso's first official days in his role, the training sessions, and so on and so forth. 

At the same time, a lot of fans will have at least some of their mind on this summer's FIFA World Cup, particularly the teams with Chelsea players, but also the tournament as a whole. 

There is always an eye for the breakout stars of the tournament. Someone you may have never heard of before, someone who plays in a different league. Someone of a very young age. 

Well, one player who in fact ticks all three of those boxes is Mexican midfielder Gilberto Mora. The 17-year old has already played in three game this World Cup, starting two of those and playing in the same game as Guillermo Ochoa, who is more than 20 years his senior. 

According to the Daily Mirror, Chelsea, Manchester City, Real Madrid and Barcelona are all interested in signing Mora from Club Tijuana, with the player's new contract (that runs until 2029), said to include a £20m release clause. Manchester United have recently pulled out of the race, as per their report.

Back in 2024, at just 15 years of age, Mora made his debut for the Club Tijuana first team, and has gone onto feature 53 times despite still being just 17 years of age. He already has 12 Mexico caps too, which is just incredible. 

This feels very in line with the sort of signing Chelsea have made in recent years, though the attempt to sign a soon to be 34 year old Granit Xhaka from Europa League side Sunderland had suggested they were trying to move to a different type of recruitment, but let's see.

In any case, this should certainly be an interesting one to follow. It feels like one of those signings the club would make, before immediately loaning him out. Perhaps not back to Club Tijuana, as it feels like he has already done all he needs to do in domestic football, but perhaps to La Liga or La Liga 2, to get him used to European Football but in a country where he can speak the language and settle in easier. 

To the English Chelsea fans reading, you may be able to see him in action against us this weekend at the Azteca. Let's hope he has a bad game if he does play.