Chelsea will continue to explore the possibility of a link-up with a club in Brazil after Santos reportedly turned them down.
The Blues' American co-owner Todd Boehly has spoken of his desire to establish a network of partner clubs around the globe, following the model of Manchester City or the Red Bull franchises.
The idea is to continue the development of young talents signed by the club in competitive leagues in other parts of the world until they are ready to play for Chelsea's first team.
The Evening Standard reported that Santos, whose academy produced Pele and Neymar, were approached by Chelsea but weren't interested in a partnership.
They say Chelsea are expected to reconsider their options in Brazil and look at buying a smaller club.
It came after Sportsmail reported that Chelsea held talks with a Portuguese team as part of Boehly's vision to implement a multi-club model.
Boehly held talks with Chelsea academy manager Neil Bath and high-profile agent Jorge Mendes, who is Portuguese, over the summer.
Speaking earlier this week, Boehly confirmed his plan to expand Chelsea's portfolio of teams to enable a pathway to senior football for Chelsea's young players who aren't quite ready for the Blues first team.
Boehly said: 'We've talked about having a multi-club model. I would love to continue to build out the footprint.
'There's different countries where there are advantages to having a club. Red Bull does a really good job at Leipzig and they've got Salzburg, both of which are playing in the Champions League so they've figured out how to make that work. You have Man City which has a very big network of clubs.
'The challenge Chelsea has, when you have 18, 19, 20-year-old stars, you can loan them out to clubs but you hand their development to someone else.
'Our goal is to ensure we show pathways for our young stars to get on to the Chelsea pitch while getting them real game time. The way to do that is through another club in a really competitive league in Europe.'
City have established a wide global network through the City Football Group. They include Girona in Spain, Lommel in Belgium, New York City FC in the United States and Melbourne City in Australia.
The Red Bull stable includes German club RB Leipzig and Austrian-based Red Bull Salzburg, who are both in this season's Champions League, as well as the New York Red Bulls in the MLS and Red Bull Bragantino in Brazil.
Chelsea have shared close links with Dutch club Vitesse Arnhem, where Mason Mount and Armando Broja spent a season on loan.
