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Newcastle United was the latest Premier League club to be publicly linked with wonderkid Gabriel Mec. Gr\u00eamio\u2019s stance on the teenager has now been addressed directly by a senior figure at the Brazilian club.<\/strong><\/p>\n The 18-year-old was one of the standout performers in Gr\u00eamio\u2019s 3-0 win over Deportivo Riestra in the Copa Sudamericana. Mec registered an assist and played with the kind of confidence that continues to attract attention from Europe.<\/p>\n That performance only added to the growing noise around his future.<\/p>\n Chelsea <\/strong>also remain firmly in the race after previous talks and more recent enquiries for Mec. The Blues came close to striking a deal in the past and continue to be heavily linked from Brazil.<\/p>\n Brentford and Nottingham Forest<\/strong> have also appeared in the picture in recent months as Premier League interest around the teenager grows.<\/p>\n Liverpool<\/strong>meanwhile, were credited with strong interest earlier in the process and were even reported in Brazil to have internally compared Mec\u2019s attacking style to Vin\u00edcius J\u00fanior.<\/p>\n Following the match in Buenos Aires, Gr\u00eamio vice-president Ant\u00f4nio Dutra Jr. was asked directly about the player\u2019s situation amid increasing transfer interest.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is currently no official proposal for Gabriel Mec,\u201d<\/em> he explained to Brazilian outlet Zero Hour<\/strong>. \u201cHe is a Gr\u00eamio player and we count on him. When proposals arrive, Gr\u00eamio will analyse them, both for Gabriel and for any other player.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n The comments are important because they slightly cool the idea that negotiations are already advanced behind the scenes. At the same time, they do not shut the door at all.<\/p>\n In fact, Dutra\u2019s wording strongly suggested Gr\u00eamio are preparing for that moment eventually arriving.<\/p>\n As we recently covered<\/strong>Newcastle is among the clubs most heavily linked with the attacking midfielder.<\/p>\n The Magpies have been increasingly active in South America and are continuing to monitor emerging attacking talent from the region.<\/p>\n Mec fits the profile of a high-upside signing with room for development, especially after his recent rise in first-team involvement at Gr\u00eamio.<\/p>\n Also, he recently turned 18, removing the final restriction for a move to Europe. At the same time, Gr\u00eamio are dealing with pressure around his long-term contract situation and growing expectations of a major future sale.<\/p>\n Dutra also made clear Gr\u00eamio expect major money if Mec eventually leaves.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he is a player who will have a very big value,\u201d<\/em> the vice-president said. \u201cHe is a player who is only just starting his career and has enormous potential. I am certain he will have a brilliant career.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Those comments align with the market picture already forming around the player.<\/p>\n Gr\u00eamio have previously been linked with valuations between \u20ac15m (\u00a312.9m) and \u20ac20m (\u00a317.2m), while Chelsea have been mentioned in reports involving figures as high as \u20ac24m (\u00a320.6m).<\/p>\n There may not be formal bids yet, but Gr\u00eamio already see Mec as a player capable of generating a major transfer in the near future.<\/p>\n \n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Newcastle United was the latest Premier League club to be publicly linked with wonderkid Gabriel…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5540,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5539","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Gr\u00eamio deny formal bids for now<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Newcastle latest club in picture<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\u201cA very big value\u201d<\/strong><\/h3>\n