“Juventus is his preference” – Chelsea stuck far back in race for defender they scouted this week | OneFootball

Simon Phillips is on a roll this morning, firing out a few nice exclusives on his Substack to keep us entertained before the likely stodge-fest of the England game later.

The last few days have been focused on the incoming deal to sign Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, but today Phillips has some exclusive information about our attempts to sign one of the breakout stars of the Euros so far, Riccardo Calafiori.

He says that Chelsea’s scouts have been in Germany with a particular eye on the defender, who impressed in all 3 group games. Those scouts will now have to move on to other targets – Italy are out after a limp 2-0 defeat to Switzerland last night.

Phillips assessment of the situation is that we’re in the mix, but without actually leading the race at the moment:

“Chelsea scouts have been impressed with his performances at the Euros, is what SPTC sources are initially hearing back. But we are unsure as of now whether they will be pushing to sign him or not,” he wrote.

“Italian sources believe that Juventus is his preference this summer, but it doesn’t mean it will be them or nothing. It will also depend on what offers come in and what offers his club want to accept.”

Riccardo Calafiori playing for Bologna.

Chelsea’s stance on another defensive signing

It seems unlikely that Chelsea really do spend the serious money to sign the Bologna man this summer. More likely it feels that, if he ends up staying put, we make a more serious move next summer. We’re pretty well stocked in defence at the moment, and can’t see a push for an expensive new player there working out well when we need reinforcements in other positions.

With Italy now out, we’d expect his future to be sorted out quickly now.