Chelsea’s longest serving player set for permanent move from Stamford Bridge

Reports in England claim Portuguese side Rio Ave are considering signing Chelsea outcast Lucas Piazon.

Piazon is nowhere the first-team squad and seems destined for a seventh loan move despite being out of contract next summer, with interest from Portugal and Spain

The Brazilian, who has made just three Blues appearances since arriving from Sao Paulo in 2011, would most likely have to take a pay-cut with his current contract at Stamford Bridge expiring next summer.

Football.london report that, quoting a source close to the player, there has been firm interest from Portugal and Spain with a decision on his future likely in the next 48 hours.

Reports in Portugal also suggest that Rio Ave are confident of agreeing a two-year loan deal – and that is where things get interesting because he is out of contract at the end of this season.

Shortly after Lucas Piazon joined Chelsea as a teenager in 2011, the Brazilian attacker gave an interview in which he had one determined message. “Everybody knows I am here to play,” he said.

Eight years later Piazon, now 25, is still on the books at Stamford Bridge and became the club’s longest-serving player when Tomas Kalas was sold to Bristol City for £8million last month.

Piazon has spent time on loan at both Fulham and Reading as well as Malaga, Vitesse Arnhem and Eintracht Frankfurt.