How Barcelona starlet Lamine Yamal could aid Chelsea's transfer pursuit of Palmeiras wonderkid Estevao 'Messinho' Willian - explained

Willian, dubbed 'Messinho' or 'little Messi', has often been labelled as the next big talent coming out of Brazil and has attracted a lot of attention from European clubs including Barcelona and Chelsea. The Catalan side has been touted as the favourites to sign the 16-year-old Brazilian, however, the emergence of Lamine Yamal could mean that Barcelona may decide to scrap the idea of signing the Palmeiras youngster altogether.

As per SPORT, the fact that Yamal and Messinho are the same age and also share the same position on the field has made the Barcelona board switch up their decision to make the signing of the Brazilian wonderkid. They also want to create the future of the club around Yamal and believe that signing Messinho would affect Yamal’s maturing process for the future.

The exit of Barcelona from the race for the Palmeiras youngster would open up the door fully for Chelsea, who would like to sign Messinho in the summer. It has been reported that the Sao Paulo-born forward has a release clause of €60 million (£51.2m/$64.6m) and the Brazilian side will not negotiate on a lower price tag having already made the big money sale of Endrick to Real Madrid.

The 16-year-old is currently involved with the Palmeiras team dynamics alongside Endrick and the duo will be in action next when they take on San Lorenzo in the Copa Libertadores on Wednesday, April 3.