Wednesday, 3rd April, 2013
AC Milan and Chelsea are engaged in a transfer duel for a Brazilian defender dubbed the "new Franz Beckenbauer".
The starlet is question is known as Dede and currently turns out for Brazilian giants Vasco da Gama.
Dede has earned rave reviews for his performances with Vasco and has been compared with former Germany defender Beckenbauer in his homeland, due to his style of play and the large degree of potential which has been attached to him.
Recently Chelsea waded in with a bid for Dede, thought to be around the €10M mark, but now AC Milan have jumped in with €12M, determined to gazump the Blues, according to Sport Mediaset.
For Vasco, the slim hope is that Dede stays, with director Cristiano Koehler meeting the transfer talk head-on.
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"It will be very difficult for the club to keep Dede", admitted Koehler.
"We would like to see him play with us next year.
"But he wants to take a step forward in his career and sign a better contract elsewhere."
It does seem that Vasco believe they may be fighting a losing battle to keep Dede.
The Brazilian side are keen to extract the maximum value from the defender however.
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