Transfer insiders claim Chelsea pushed for Aston Villa midfielder because first teamer is out “until March” | OneFootball

The Athletic’s Deal Sheet today looks back at Chelsea’s January window. They claim that the Blues considered signing Douglas Luiz (who ended up at Aston Villa) because they knew that Dario Essugo would be out until March.

That’s interesting – while we all knew there had been yet another set back after he “slipped” in training, we hadn’t heard such a definite date put on Essugo’s return date until now. Rosenior had said the midfielder would be out for more than a month at the end of January, which does add up.

If it really is March, that’s a disaster. He then won’t really be match fit until April, meaning he’s effectively blanked his whole first season here, just like Romeo Lavia did. All we can hope now is that Essugo’s second season doesn’t go the same way that Lavia’s did.

Sporting directors gamble on fitness of midfielder

Romeo Lavia celebrates after qualification. (Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC)

Another part of the article says that one of the reasons that Luiz wasn’t pushed for harder was that Lavia is “close to a first team return.” We’ve seen him in first team training for more than a week now.

The question is how long that return can be relied upon. There’s no doubt that this is a big of a gamble from the sporting directors – and betting on Lavia’s fitness has not been a winning proposition, let’s face it.

In other news…

Mamadou Sarr was Chelsea’s only first team addition in January, and we reckon he’s going to get a fair bit of playing time before the end of the season. Why? You can read all about it here.

Chelsea ended up not spending any money in January, but that has at least set them up for a big summer, when they can hopefully generate more income with some sales and then make some major improvements to the squad.