It would appear that Chelsea’s youth team ranks for the 2012-13 season are set to swell by one more at least, with news that Ecuadorian full-back/winger Josimar Quintero is to move from Barcelona to London this summer.
In an interview with ECUAGOL, the 16 year-old spoke candidly about his future and the excitement of moving to the Blues.
Ecuagol claim that he will make his final appearances in the famous Blaugrana later this month in a youth tournament in Valencia before upping sticks and heading to London.
Josimar notes that his English is ‘not perfect’ but that he’ll be putting in the time and effort with his new club in mind, and also spoke of a complicated international career which has seen interest from the Spanish FA and from the Catalan national team, but also a commitment to the country of his birth (he was born in Guayaquil but moved to Spain as a youngster). He would have featured at the recent South American Under-17 Championships but for paperwork issues, and was reportedly busy at the time sorting out the necessary documents ahead of his Chelsea move.
He will join a group of first-year scholars at Cobham for next season which includes the familiar faces of Jeremie Boga, Charlie Colkett, Ola Aina and Connor Hunte amongst others. That quartet have been front and centre for the academy this season in crucial FA Youth Cup and NextGenSeries clashes, and promise to make exceptional progress next season. Josimar Quintero will be hoping to join them.