The scouts in Nyon were from Bayern Munich. The teenager they had come to watch was Eduardo Pape, a 17-year-old central midfielder from Cruzeiro who has yet to play a senior minute of Brazilian football but is now being linked with a cross-continental transfer race, according to Goal.

Arsenal and Newcastle United are the Premier League sides said to be alongside Bayern in the chase, Sports Mole reports. None of the three clubs has publicly confirmed interest, and the story is being carried as a rumour sourced to Brazilian reporting rather than any official statement from Cruzeiro or the clubs involved.

The price Cruzeiro has in mind

Pape is contracted at Cruzeiro until 2029, with a release clause set at €100m for foreign suitors. The reported figure Cruzeiro would actually accept is closer to €40m, roughly £33m, Sports Mole writes. That gap between the clause and the acceptable fee is where any negotiation would start.

Azuriz FC holds 20 per cent of the midfielder’s economic rights, Goal adds, which complicates the arithmetic for any buyer.

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The Busquets comparison

In 32 appearances for Cruzeiro’s Under-20 side Pape has scored three goals and provided three assists, a modest return explained by his position: he is a defensive-minded central midfielder whose game is built on reading play and distributing. Scouts have compared him to Sergio Busquets.

Bayern’s interest was first reported by German newspaper tz, Goal notes, after the club sent a scout to the UEFA Friendship Cup in Nyon, Switzerland. The Hard Tackle, which carries the same multi-club story, frames Arsenal’s interest as a long-term option in central midfield alongside Myles Lewis-Skelly.

A March 2027 birthday blocks a Premier League move

Any move would have to wait. Pape turns 18 in March 2027, and English clubs are blocked by UK immigration rules from signing non-EU players under that age. German regulation gives Bayern a narrower, but still restricted, path.

Cruzeiro is in no apparent rush to sell. The Brazilian side plans to keep developing the midfielder in-house, The Hard Tackle writes. Pape is next expected to feature at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup with Brazil.

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