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Athletic’s reliable David Ornstein has confirmed that Wolverhampton Wanderers have won the race for Sport Recife star Pedro Lima despite interest from other Premier League clubs including Chelsea and Manchester United.
Earlier this month, a report covering The Peoples Person claimed that United were keen to strike a deal for the highly-rated Lima.
Since his arrival, Sir Jim Ratcliffe and INEOS have been keen to implement a youth-led transfer approach which emphasizes signing youngsters with plenty of potential who can then be nurtured to develop into world-class superstars.
This new United transfer policy is evident in the players the Red Devils are rumored to be looking to sign this summer, including Michael Olise, Marc Guehi, Archie Gray, Chris Rigg, Baylee Dipep, Aaron Anselmino, Leny Yor and Desire Doue, just to name a few names.
Lima is second in this regard.
The right-back is a very technically gifted right-back who has shown that he is not afraid to get forward and help offensively.
Although only 17 years old, Lima has already made eight senior appearances for Sport Recife in the 2023/24 season. Sport Recife plays in the Brazilian second division.
Chelsea were thought to be the Premier League side closest to securing Lima’s services.
Transfer expert Fabricio Romano even said a deal had been reached between Chelsea and Sport Recife as he sealed the move with his famous “here we go”.
🚨🔵 Chelsea verbally agree to sign Brazilian 2006-born right back Pedro Lima from Sport Recife, let’s go!
Key detail: the work will be done through the BlueCo side of Strasbourg. 🇫🇷🇧🇷
A fixed fee of €7 million, add-ons of €3.5 million and the player’s agent is ready to travel for final details. pic.twitter.com/sYVwWlvP8x
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 12, 2024
Ornstein has now confirmed that United, Chelsea and the other top six Premier League sides will all miss out on him as the defender is now set to join Wolves.
According to Ornstein, “Wolverhampton Wanderers have reached an agreement with Sport Recife to sign Pedro Lima. The 17-year-old has been heavily linked with a host of top clubs, most prominently Chelsea, who have been eyeing a deal for the right-back.”
Personal terms between Lima and Wolves are already in place on a five-year deal that includes an option to extend his stay at Molineux by a further year.
A statement from Sport Recife reads: “Sport Club do Recife announces that it has signed a binding agreement on the transfer of the economic and federal rights of the athlete Pedro Lima to Wolverhampton Wanderers, from England.”
“The agreement is subject to the usual conditions, including the athlete’s approval for medical examinations carried out by the English club.”
“Chairman Yuri Romao and the football management committee will detail the operation in a statement once all business-related matters have been completed.”
Lima played for Brazil at the youth level and featured in last year’s U17 World Cup.
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