Agents claim Chelsea are considering January move for 27 year old midfielder | OneFootball

Chelsea are being linked with an interesting January move right now.

The Daily Briefing has today claimed that the Blues, along with a host of other top clubs including Newcastle, Aston Villa and West Ham, are all in the mix for Manuel Locatelli, who could be on the move in January.

He’s a central midfielder, and while Chelsea are well covered there, they also are concerned about the long term status of Romeo Lavia, who is currently midway through his 3 third season of barely playing for us.

Locatelli is a powerful box to box machine, and we can see why so many Premier League teams are interested in trying him out in the English top flight.

Chelsea could target Juventus midfielder to add midfield depth

Manuel Locatelli applauds the fans. (Photo by Francesco Scaccianoce/Getty Images)

“The Chelsea links surprised me slightly, firstly because they already have Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez as their clear first-choice central midfield, and also because Locatelli doesn’t really fit their model of signing top young players, Mark Brus wrote.

“Still, the 27-year-old is viewed inside Stamford Bridge as a tempting market opportunity, and he most likely wouldn’t be coming to be first choice, but a rotation option to add depth after Romeo Lavia’s injury struggles.”

Chelsea always hungry for market opportunities

The “market opportunity” aspect is clearly why this is happening. We saw with Alejandro Garnacho this summer that the club will sign players that are a little “outside the box” if they think they’re getting a good deal. Signing Tosin Adarabioyo a year before that shows they’re willing to bend their age rules too, if there’s a bargain to be had.

Locatelli wouldn’t demand crazy wages, so maybe this one actually is on the cards. We will have to wait and see if his name is still being mentioned in a few months time.