Chelsea sign ‘the new Lamine Yamal’

Chelsea will have their own Lamine Yamal when Geovany Quenda joins in 2026, according to one of his former coaches.

The Blues blew Manchester United out of the water when they barged into the race to sign the Sporting CP wonderkid earlier this month. Quenda had been Man Utd’s top target and the versatile wide player was keen to reunite with Ruben Amorim.

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However, due to the Red Devils’ dire financial – and sporting – situation, they simply couldn’t commit to a €50 million expenditure this early in the year, allowing Chelsea to swoop in and strike an agreement.

The West London giants sweetened the deal by agreeing to leave Quenda at Sporting until 2026 and they also managed to get buy-in from the player by making it clear that they see him as a winger rather than a wing-back, which would have been Amorim’s plan for him.

Quenda is a hugely exciting talent. He has long been known in Portugal as a diamond in the rough, so much so that national team boss Roberto Martinez already waxed lyrical about him in January 2024, months before he had even made his senior debut for Sporting.

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Chelsea sign ‘the new Yamal’

According to Tiago Texeira, a former assistant of Sporting’s U23s, the rise of Quenda is akin to that of Lamine Yamal at Barcelona. “Everyone was talking about Geovany,” he told The Athletic.

“He is a very, very good dribbler. He’s impressive physically and can beat his man on the outside or on the inside. He’s a very intense player, very committed. But I think his greatest strengths are his decision-making and his ability to play the final ball. He reads the game brilliantly.

“I see similarities with Lamine Yamal. Both of them started playing senior football at 16, 17. Yamal is already playing for Spain but Quenda has just been called up by Portugal for the first time and I’m certain he’s going to be a regular in the national team for years to come, and a star of the Champions League.

“He will get better with age and keep growing in confidence. He has everything he needs.”