Chelsea among clubs keeping close tabs on 16-year-old USA youth sensation

Chelsea join major European clubs in the race to sign Dino Klapija

According to the Daily Mail, Manchester United and Chelsea have joined the race to sign highly touted teenager Dino Klapija. Other European giants Barcelona, Juventus, AC Milan, and RB Leipzig also have keen interest in signing the 16-year-old.

The teenager, who grew up in North Hempstead, USA, began his career at New York City’s academy as a midfielder and later changed his position to become a centre-forward. He is one of the best young prospects in the nation and could be set for a bright future.

Klapija has already appeared at the USA U16 level. The teenager’s quick ascent saw him join Dinamo Zagreb when his family moved to Croatia. The striker was expected to sign a contract with the Croatian giants before NK Kustosija swooped in for his services.

Kustosija are renowned for developing young players, as they recently sold their top youngster, Mikayil Faye, to Barcelona for £4.2 million plus £12 million in bonuses based on appearances. He will hope to follow in a similar trajectory.

Meanwhile, the USA star has been training with the Kustosija first team, and his performances for the U17s and Croatia have drawn attention from European sides. Now that many major teams are interested in signing him, the youngster might be another youngster joining an elite European team where he could have greater chances of learning to become a phenomenal striker.

The aforementioned clubs are vying for his services and are even ready to pay £5 million. Leipzig remains the frontrunner to sign the centre-forward, while Chelsea and United are looking to make a late punt for his services.

Drawing the attention of elite European clubs speaks so much about your talent because why wouldn’t there be as many teams eager to recruit him? Top European teams are showing interest in him already at the age of 16, so if we have the chance to sign him, we should do so because our primary objective has been to purchase young players and then loan them out to other clubs for continued development.

More Chelsea News

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• Fabrizio Romano confirms Chelsea target Elye Wahi has passed his medical at RC Lens
• Transfer News: Chelsea will turn down AC Milan’s bid for Armando Broja

The Blues don’t enjoy being outbid, as we saw in the Moises Caicedo saga. Hopefully, we once again come out on top, this time for the sensational American talent.