Report: 19-year-old with ‘incredible future’ nearly joined Chelsea in 2019, he now starts for his country

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Reports have claimed that Chelsea were close to signing Barcelona full-back Alejandro Balde all the way back in 2019.

According to Beteve, the Blues were stopped from completing a deal by sanctions placed on them by UEFA in Frank Lampard’s first window in charge of the club.

Balde has quickly developed into an extremely promising left-back.

He is a frequent starter for Barcelona, normally meaning any gametime for former Blue Marcos Alonso has come in the centre-back role.

Fellow Barcelona left-back Jordi Alba has already claimed that the 19-year-old has an ‘incredible future’ ahead of him, although he is already showing what he has in the present day.

Balde now has four caps for Spain, as the former World Champions look to rebuild following a disappointing World Cup campaign.

Balde nearly joined Chelsea

However, it has now emerged that he was nearly on a very different path in his career.

Beteve have claimed that he likely would have moved to Stamford Bridge if the Blues weren’t placed under a transfer ban three years ago.

The report claims that the situation caused unrest to the Balde camp when he was just 16 years of age, with him eventually committing his future to Barcelona.

There has been quite a lot of transfer business involving both Chelsea and the Catalan club in recent memory.

They exchanged aging players last summer in the form of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alonso, however that was the friendlier transfer that cropped up.

The La Liga side pipped the Blues to both Raphinha and Jules Kounde last summer, with both at stages looking more likely to be on their way to Stamford Bridge.

Leeds United had even accepted a bid from Chelsea to sign the Brazilian, however he stalled long enough for Barcelona to create the funds necessary to complete the deal.