Weststander
Well-known member
Chelsea have been doing this for 20 years. Gazumping clubs across Europe by taking on highly regarded 16 to 22 year olds, literally 100’s and 100’s of players. A few eventually became stars in football eg Lukaku, Salah, De Bruyne, but for the vast majority Cobham became a football career graveyard.They're already doing that, signing some second division Brazilian before this transfer window.
Historically, PL teams haven't bothered with SA talents before they prove themselves in another European league. Too much hassle with scouting, work permits, dealing with wonky ownerships and adapting these youngsters to England. Think that is about to slowly change however, but Brighton seem to be in the drivers seat when it comes to picking up good SA talent (except for Brazilians as they are quite expensive).
https://www.planetfootball.com/quic...an-to-sign-for-chelsea-in-the-abramovich-era/
Brighton’s thing (for now) appears to be a high hit rate on players succeeding in and around the first team.