Chelsea rejected with deadline day interest in Man City midfielder | OneFootball

Chelsea saw a deadline day approach for Manchester City midfielder Nico O'Reilly knocked back, it has emerged.

With Romeo Lavia back on the sidelines battling injury, Chelsea added a new midfielder to their winter wish list. The Blues opted to keep Andrey Santos and Lesley Ugochukwu on their respective loans with Strasbourg and Southampton and instead chased a new signing.

19-year-old O'Reilly emerged as a possible target for Chelsea and The Athletic note that Enzo Maresca's side reached out to open negotiations about a late winter switch, only to find City reluctant to sell.

Having lost Cole Palmer to Chelsea in the summer of 2023, City were determined to avoid a repeat and made it clear they would require a buy-back clause in any deal to sell O'Reilly - a demand which led Chelsea to walk away from the table.

Instead, Chelsea are expected to finalise a £12.5m move to sign 19-year-old Saint-Etienne midfielder Mathis Amougou, although there have been conflicting reports as to whether the Frenchman is a signing for Chelsea or Strasbourg.

City, meanwhile, wrapped up the £50m signing of Nico Gonzalez from Porto as they look to finally fill the void left by Rodri's early-season injury.

Deadline day was geared around departures for Chelsea, who bid farewell to Carney Chukwuemeka, Ben Chilwell, Axel Disasi and Joao Felix on loan deals, and Maresca confirmed he was satisfied with the club's business after the window closed.

"Everything that happened was planned from me, from the club – all together," Maresca said after Chelsea's 2-1 win over West Ham United.

"Probably we can find some different solutions. The ones that are here are the ones that are going to be with us until the end. The ones that left, we all agreed they could go."