Sources in Brazil claimed on Wednesday that Chelsea, who face competition from a host of Europe’s top clubs including Inter Milan, had offered €35 million (£29 million) for Lucas but it is understood that no formal bid has been submitted this month. Lucas and his advisers, who include the influential agent Wagner Ribeiro, have told Sao Paulo that he will remain in Brazil until the summer.
It might not be the final piece of business that Chelsea, who have rejected West Ham United’s attempts to sign Salomon Kalou, who is out of contract this summer, complete before the window closes. Villas-Boas is mulling over whether to press ahead with a bid for another Brazilian, the Shakhtar Donetsk attacking midfielder Willian who will cost just over €20 million (£16.7 million). No offer has yet been made.
Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is keen to broker a deal for Willian but it is understood that Villas-Boas wants to wait and see whether he can sign other closely-guarded targets. However, Chelsea may still make a deadline day offer for the 23-year-old international if Villas-Boas decides he needs to strengthen having allowed Nicolas Anelka to leave and with Gary Cahill signed as the replacement for Paris St-Germain-bound Alex.
Lucas has won a series of awards and accolades since breaking into the Sao Paulo team where he features predominantly as a right-sided attacking player, an area that Villas-Boas believes needs strengthening.
Chelsea have a good relationship with Sao Paulo, having acquired the striker Lucas Piazon, who has just turned 18 and who has already been picked out by Villas-Boas as a potential star of the future for the first-team, and will hope that having registered their interest in Lucas they will remain in the running to sign him.
However, they have not always succeeding in landing their targets from Brazilian football, having come close to signing the striker Neymar from Santos only for that deal to fail at the last minute. Neymar is also wanted by Real Madrid and Barcelona but is expected to stay in Brazil until 2014.
Brazilian football is also in a far better financial state than it has been for some time, with an influx of investment, and with the World Cup in the country in two years time, there is pressure on a number of young players not to move abroad.