Highly-rated African midfielder joins Chelsea with effect from June 2024

Teenage African midfielder Pape Daouda Diong will become a player of Chelsea when he attains the age of majority in June 2024.

Italian transfer market reporter Fabrizio Romano posted on social media on Thursday morning that Chelsea have 'completed a deal' to sign Senegal U17 midfielder Pape Daouda Diong. 

Diong is set to become the second Senegalese player signed by Chelsea since the start of the 2023-2024 season, after former Villarreal forward Nicolas Jackson who landed at Stamford Bridge in the summer transfer window. 

Although the name doesn't ring any bells, the AF Darou Salam starlet was a key member of the Senegal team that reached the round of 16 of last month's Fifa U17 World Cup, where he started matches against Argentina, Poland and France.

Standing at an impressive height of 1.90 meters, the Dakar native was the player with the highest percentage (85.2%) of defensive duels won in the group stage of the World Cup, according to Wyscout.

Diong was photographed last Tuesday at Stamford Bridge during the Carabao Cup quarterfinal clash between Chelsea and Newcastle United, in the company of Kendry Páez.

He is expected to be loaned out to Strasbourg next June, a club owned by BluCo, the consortium that purchased Chelsea in 2022.

Igho Kingsley