Chelsea strengthens Sesko alternatives at 19-year-old

At one stage of the season, Chelsea looks like it can challenge the Premier League title.

Enzo Maresca managed to do a great job, with Cole Palmer contributing 12 goals and 6 assists until early 2025.

But, since then, their form has fallen off the cliff. Indeed, Maresca’s side has won only four Premier League games so far in the calendar year.

It seems that the manager has planned to sign Geovany Quenda and Dario Essugo next season and beyond, spending £62.4 million in the process.

Once the transfer window opens on June 1, Maresca will be eager to join his team before the 2025/26 campaign.

The center division is the one strengthened during the transfer window as Nicolas Jackson still has questions while Christopher Nkunku has attracted interest elsewhere.

According to reports, Chelsea is a club that is leading RB Leipzig striker Benjamin Sesko, and Arsenal has also shown some interest.

The 21-year-old is one of the most coveted young talents on the mainland and will increasingly likely leave the German side this summer.

Not only did Maresca admire the Slovenian striker, but another young man has recently caught his attention…

Chelsea seeks forward

According to a recent report, Chelsea is increasing interest in Colombian striker Neil Real Aureareal.

The club sent a chief scout to monitor his performance at Millonarios in a clash with Santa Fe earlier this week, in which the player was shown a yellow card to stand on the ball.

According to the report, Miami, Porto and Watford are other relevant parties, although the Blues must be seen as leaders, especially since they may play in the Champions League next season.

The 19-year-old has no contract at the end of 2025, which could encourage Bruce to make an offer sooner rather than to attract him to the Premier League.

Stamford Bridge already has a large number of South American stars in the club, including Oscar Perea and Kendry Paez, and Estevao has recently been linked with the team.

Why Chelsea is interested in signing Neyser Villarreal

The teenager was able to play anywhere in the top three and showed impressive position flexibility despite playing only 13 games for his club team in his embryonic career.

Villarreal has already received one assist in just two league games this season, while Colombia’s Aptura averages 3.5 strokes per game. The young man also averaged 0.5 key passes per game and received 0.5 dribbling for his club team.

In this good form, he was compared to England’s star Marcus Rashford by talent scout Jacek Kulig because of his ability to operate on flanks or core roles.

Rashford – Six professional goals against Blues so far, he also broke into the scene with a teenage striker, and Villarreal seems to want to follow in his footsteps.

After an impressive performance at the South American U20 Championships, highly respected analyst Ben Mattinson praised the Colombian teenager where he scored a hat-trick against Paraguay.

“I like how fast he shoots in the box, the right poacher. So clinical. Take it to both sides and he will do a strong strike on the goal.”

It can be argued that his show in the game was why the Blues sent Boy Scouts to monitor his performance midweek.

Neyser Villarreal’s performance at the South American U20 Championship

Colombia played nine games in the matches held between January and February this year, losing only twice to Brazil and Argentina.

In these matches, Villarreal scored an impressive eight goals while recording four assists, which was an amazing consistency for his country.

He scored every 95 minutes and averaged 1.4 shots per game, and the 19-year-old could have scored higher and missed four big opportunities in the game.

Elsewhere, Villarreal also created four big opportunities, earning an average of 2.1 key passes per game and getting one dribble in each game, showing many skills throughout the game.

These displays obviously aroused great interest from the distance, but is he now ready to move to Europe? Maybe spending another season in South America will keep him growing.

As the Blues focus on other forwards, including Sesko, in front of the summer transfer window, can Villarreal be a better long-term signing?

How Villarreal compares to Sesko

Sesko has shined since the transfer from RB Salzburg to Leipzig in the summer of 2023. The 21-year-old scored 35 goals in 78 games, which is better than what he has won in Austria.

The young center will surely shine in the Bundesliga, scoring every 189 minutes, although he missed the chance to score ten league goals so far this season.

Sesko is also not shy about creating opportunities for others, which creates five big opportunities this semester, proving that he is not scoring with all his might.

It seems like he is ready to move to a bigger club, and his signature competition is fierce in the summer transfer window.

However, Villarreal may only have larger ceilings. Chelsea is doing its best to harvest all promising South American talent, but Millonarios Youngster is likely to be the best.

The best thing is that he costs a lot more than Sesko, especially contracts that expire at the end of 2025.

There is no doubt that Leipzig will be eager to get as much as possible for the Slovenian international team.

The next Rashford to Villarreal is likely to be Bruce’s better long-term strategy.