From players to coaches, some moves that have taken place in the league are sure to ‘spice things up’.

Chelsea has joined fellow Premier League clubs West Ham and Crystal Palace and Brazilian Serie A club Flamengo in the race for signing Gabriel ‘Gabigol’ Barbosa who spent 2019 on loan from Inter Milan at Flamengo.

Just last year, the Premier League had a transfer ban lifted and immediately, manager Frank Lampard of Chelsea immediately identified Gabigol as the target for the January transfer window. They also added that Chelsea’s French forward Olivier Giroud could possibly join Inter Milan as part of the deal.

Barbosa, nicknamed Gabigol, scored 43 goals in 59 matches across all competitions for Flamengo in 2019, helping the club to the Brazilian Serie A and Copa Libertadores titles. This was after he spent an unimpressive 12-month long loan at Santos where he just scored 27 times in the 53 games he played in.

He was considered one of the world’s most promising young forwards in 2016 when he joined Inter Milan for $30 million from Santos. During his time there, he was only able to score a single goal in the 10 matches he played in. This was followed by a similarly uneventful six-month loan at Benfica.

In similar news, it was confirmed that Rafael Dudamel was confirmed as Brazil Atletico Mineiro’s new head coach just 48 hours after resigning as Venezuela’s national team manager. At 46-year-old, he will replace Vagner Mancini whose contract expired back in December after Atletico finished in 13th in the 2019 Brazilian Serie A Championship. Dudamel’s contract will last until December 2021.

The club released a statement, saying ‘Dudamel’s excellent work done in Venezuela caught the eye of Atletico, who were looking for a coach with a successful history of working with youngsters’. He ended his contract as the South American team’s manager due to deteriorating working conditions.

This left Venezuela with less than three months to search for and appoint a new head coach before the start of the South American zone qualifying tournament for the 2022 World Cup.

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Additionally, former Real Madrid midfielder Lucas Silva joined Gremio as a free agent in an attempt to revive his uneventful career. The 26-year-old player signed a four-year deal with the Brazilian Serie A club just recently, nearly four months after leaving Real Madrid with mutual consent.

‘It makes me very proud and gives me enormous satisfaction to accept this challenge’, said SIlva in a statement released via social media. ‘I’m thankful for the faith shown in me and let there be no doubt that I’m going to give everything I’ve got for Gremio’.

Silva rose to stardom when he helped Cruzeiro win back-to-back Brazilian Serie A titles in 2013 and 2014. He was then signed by Real Madrid in January 2015 but only played in eight games before being loaned to Marseille.