Why Chelsea wanted Man City winger, and why Garnacho and Gittens aren’t doing it for them | OneFootball

The Athletic’s deal sheet for this month is pretty disappointing for Chelsea fans, let’s be honest. The Blues are not likely to sign anyone, and even sales are looking hard to come by right now.

One concrete piece of interest that flashed up a couple of weeks ago was in Antoine Semenyo. Chelsea were linked and then un-linked in 24 hours. What happened there? The deal sheet has some information about our interest in a winger.

Why Chelsea wanted new Man City signing for themselves

Antoine Semenyo in action for AFC Bournemouth (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

“Chelsea weren’t the only side in the race for Semenyo, but their interest in the 26-year-old — a speedy, powerful winger who can strike the ball on both feet — points to a desire to add more attacking output in wide areas,” Thom Harris wrote.

“It’s that flick-of-a-switch impact that Chelsea sometimes lack from their wide players. Pedro Neto is an excellent ball-carrier but shoots infrequently, and while 18-year-old Estevao has shown signs of dynamism and attacking magic, Jamie Gittens and Alejandro Garnacho have struggled to find the confidence and consistency required when given opportunities in the team.”

We wouldn’t disagree with any of that. We got rid of two quite average wide options in the summer, and replaced them with two even more average options it seems. We can see why they might want someone like Semenyo – but until they actually make a deal like that happen, we’re not going to get too excited about any of them.

In other news…

That’s not the only position the Blues are thinking about – according to the same Athletic feature, there are three positions they’re looking to add more quality in the summer.

Chelsea’s transfer activity is not expected to be too significant – we expect Strasbourg to actually get more money spent on them than the first team this month as we look to make up for stealing their manager.