The case had been heard in Portugal and England for a few days, but yesterday, Sporting Portugal formalized the transfer of Geovany Quenda (17) and Dario Essugo (20 years) to Chelsea for a total value of € 74 million. “Sporting SAD has reached a global agreement with the Chelsea FC for the final transfer of the players Geovany Quenda and Dário Essugo, for a total value of 74,408,816.32 €. For Dario Essugo, the financial consideration for the transfer, which will materialize at the end of this sports season, corresponds to a lump sum of € 22,272,275.00, the player continuing to exercise his activity within the Union Deportiva Las Palmas until the end of the current sports season. For Geovany Quenda, the financial consideration of the transfer corresponds to € 52,136,541.32 ». Note, however, that Essugo will join the Blues next summer, once its loan in Las Palmas is finished, while Quenda will only land in London in the summer of 2026.
Quenda, another record sale
If some SCP fans regret seeing these two talents go so quickly, the LisBotère steering rubs its hands. Sold for just over € 52 million, Geovany Quenda has become the most expensive U17 in history, exceeding a certain endrick. It is also the third largest sale in the history of the le le le le Le ru, after those of Manuel Ugarte (€ 60 million at PSG) and Bruno Fernandes (€ 65 million in Manchester United). For its part, Dario Essugo (€ 22.2 million) is the eleventh best sale, after João Palihinha (€ 25 million in Bayern Munich) and ahead of Gelson Martins (€ 21 million in Atlético de Madrid). And if Chelsea hastened to sign these two, it is simply because they are the two biggest hopes of Sporting. Starting with Geovany Quenda (1.72m). This young 17 -year -old dribbler was revealed to the general public at the very start of the season, when Roberto Martinez, the coach of Portugal, had surprised everyone by summoning him to the A, for the start of the League of Nations. At that time, Quenda, who joined the SCP in 2019 from Benfica, had just been launched for the first time as a first team by Ruben Amorim and had only five games among the pros after being released from a good season with the U23 LisBoets (9 goals, 7 assists in 24 games).
“”I have already spoken with him in March (2024, editor's note). He is a player who creates imbalance, who likes to play one against one. He made a very good Euro U17 (named in the type team team, editor's note) in a very talented group of players. We also really appreciated what Geovany did during the pre-seasonRoberto Martinez explained last September. Since then, Quenda has not left the Seleção Das Quinas and is also part of the group summoned for the quarterfinals of the League of Nations against Denmark. With Sporting CP, the winger has scored 2 goals this season and delivered 6 assists in 44 games, including 37 started as a holder. Courted some time ago by the Manchester United of his former coach (Amorim) and Paris Saint-Germain, this left-hander specialist in the right corridor will therefore have to confirm his first promising season with the pros before going to sow Zizania in the defenses of Premier League. His future teammate in the Blues, Dario Essugo (1.78m), is however less known to the general public. Aged 20, he is right -handed and evolves in the post of defensive midfielder. Trained in Sporting Portugal, Essugo was launched as a first team for the first time in March 2021 against Vitoria Guimarães.
ESSUGO, a new Caicedo?
“Dario is a very talented boy. Congratulations to him, he deserved it. He was summoned to training, fulfilled his duties and showed great qualities during the two weeks he worked with us ”declared Amorim just after the great first of his player. Then, ESSUGO will disappear from radar screens. “Dario has not disappeared, he was simply injured for a while and that is why he was not on the lists. He was a player we were working on, he did not disappear from the card ”explained Amorim in February 2023. In the end, after only 25 appearances between 2021 and 2024, the young environment was loaned six months to Chaves (14 matches) in January 2024, before leaving his country and chaining a second consecutive Liga loan, in Las Palmas last summer. “”I have good prospects. I am in a new stage, far from my home, and everything is different. I know this will be beneficial for my growth, I am sure that I will do good things here. The family is the most important thing in my life; She is always with me wherever I go. She has always been close to me and gives me the motivation necessary to achieve my goals. I watched the last two games of Las Palmas. They like to have the ball, they are enthusiastic, and it is difficult for opponents to press them. This is something that I really appreciate in the team. I was in Chaves for six months. The Portuguese liga is very good, but here will be better for my growth. It will help me improve what I have to work and highlight my strengthsHe said when he joined the Spanish club.
Recovering midfielder, scratch of balloons, wiper will support Chelsea another player who evolves in this register, Caicedo months. Athletic, worker, strong in duels, Portuguese also knows how to project itself forward. In Spain, Essugo evolves in a club that fights for its survival in Liga (19th in the ranking), but in 17 matches (1 goal), he managed to type in the eye of Real Madrid and FC Barcelona. Still young, he recently made an error by being expelled against Betis on March 9, after having received two yellow cards in eight minutes. But his coach hastened to defend him, aware of his potential. “ESSUGO is a very talented player, who will become a much better player and perhaps that in the future we will see it in large teams, but young people as they also make mistakes like everyone else, but as young people there are situations where you have to pay tolls along the way. We would also be very unfair with a player as important for us, who achieved a very good performance. For his defense, we must say that the lack of continuity due to the sanctions and its injury also affects it. He is a very important player for us ”said Diego Martinez. Capable of evolving alone in recovery or double pivot, ESSUGO impresses for its effectiveness in the construction of the game and the use of the ball, with a success rate of passes slightly less than 90 %. Very active in his half of the field, the Lusitanian, who was recently called in Portuguese hopes for Euro 2025, was the appropriate defensive reinforcement for Las Palmas who already knew that he could not retain such a nugget for a long time.
