Chelsea’s hopes of signing Radja Nainggolan was given a significant backlash by Roma manager Luciano Spalletti, who claims that Nainggolan has ‘promised’ to stay with the club. This is after the Blues had a reported £31 million bid rejected by Roma who are holding out for a fee closer to £35 million. The club in the capital is still mourning the loss of Miralem Pjanic to Juventus, another highly sought-after transfer target for most top European clubs heading into the summer window. However, the Roma manager will be reluctant to lose both his star midfielders in the space of one summer, and according to Gazzetta dello Sport, Nainggolan’s ploy is to instead quicken the talks over a new and improved contract. All of which indicates that there’s a very low chance of him leaving the Italian capital unless Chelsea meet Roma’s asking price.
Meanwhile, Koulibaly’s sensational attempt at blackmailing Napoli into letting him move to Stamford Bridge has resulted in the club instead threatening to sue Chelsea in regards to their attempts at signing the Senegalese international. All this is very cute, but the main question in the minds of Chelsea fans worldwide will undoubtedly be whether the Naples man has enough quality to bring back the good old days on the Blue side of London.
The heavy link between Germany international Antonio Rüdiger—another Roma player, quite coincidentally—and Chelsea suddenly shuttered as the defender tore his ACL during practice ahead of the Euros with his national team. However, some are suggesting that the defender could yet make an arrival at Stamford Bridge.
Speaking of arrivals, what an arrival it would be should Chelsea meet Juve’s asking price of £125 million for Paul Pogba, the French player who has also reportedly gone AWOL at the Euros. Jokes aside, the 23-year old midfielder will certainly be an upgrade on the current midfield at the club, provided he can overtake John Obi Mikel in the pecking order.
Dubbed the new ‘Hazard’, Sofiane Boufal is going to snub Liverpool for Chelsea, reports The Guardian, with Lille holding out till they receive an offer north of €25 million. Arsenal are also thought to be in the contest, though it is uncertain where the Moroccan international will fit in, given the current multitude of attacking midfielders already at the Emirates.
After destroying Belgium’s hopes of winning the Euros, Leonardo Bonucci is rated north of £50 million by the Old Lady, who picked him up for no more than €15.5 million in the summer of 2010. With the player already aged 29, it is hard to see even Manchester City paying Juventus that alarming amount of money for his services.
Although it is almost impossible to determine the outcome of a transfer, especially from the outside, it can be derived from the reports that the transfers of Boufal, Koulibaly, and Bonucci (however absurd) seem the most probable. Boufal’s transfer value can be upturned a year later for a massive profit, should he succeed, and Koulibaly seems eager to make the move which means Napoli might be even more eager to cut Chelsea a sweet deal and get this erratic situation over with.
Now, the case of Bonucci is more interesting, because Juve will not let their defender go at a price much short of their 50 million pound valuation given the current lack of quality players in that department around the world, however, the signing of Rugani last summer means that they are now ready to recoup after a loss such as this. How the youngster will play out given more starts remains to be seen, but for the sake of the transfer, hopefully he can give the Juve executives a reassuring smile.
