The closure of the January transfer window is creeping ever closer and Chelsea still haven’t completed a single first-team acquisition.
This isn’t anything to be worried about, especially with exits taking precedence. Plenty’s still in the pipeline, with Carney Chukwuemeka heading to Borussia Dortmund and Joao Felix likely to leave on loan, AC Milan sitting in the driving seat.
Incomings (From)
Fee
Outgoings (To)
Fee
None
Cesare Casadei (Torino)
£12.5m
Alex Matos (Oxford)
Loan
Jimmy-Jay Morgan (Gillingham)
Loan
Renato Veiga (Juventus)
That’s not an exhaustive list, and it’s hardly out of the question that Chelsea will bring a player or two into Enzo Maresca’s squad at the eleventh hour.
Chelsea eyeing last-gasp deal
Chelsea have been looking at a number of positions. Alejandro Garnacho of Manchester United is liked but the variables make a deal tough to complete at this late stage.
Elsewhere, Manchester City prospect Nico O’Reilly has also been of interest, but Chelsea appear to be shifting their attention to across the Channel.
At least, that’s according to transfer insider Graeme Bailey, who have today revealed that Chelsea are keen on signing Saint-Étienne’s Mathis Amougou before tonight’s deadline.
Transfer Focus
Stepping up their efforts to sign the 19-year-old Amougou, the Blues could add the perfect final dimension to their first team and continue the seasonal resurgence.
Journalist Graeme Bailey has gone one step further, claiming that a deal is ‘close’ to being agreed, with it undecided whether the teenager will remain at Stamford Bridge, or head out on loan.
Why Chelsea want Mathis Amougou
Analyst Ben Mattinson has hailed the press-resistant Amougou as a “Romeo Lavia-esque” talent. The key difference is that the Frenchman hasn’t been plagued by injury woes across his fledgling career.
The teenager has started nine Ligue 1 matches this term and has impressed with his blend of abilities, boasting defensive strength and ball-playing qualities. Nascent though they are, this is promising stuff for a Chelsea side already nurturing a rich crop of youth talent.
Lavia and Moises Caicedo impressed in conjunction over the early knockings of the season and Amougou could be a wonderful addition to potentially forge such a partnership down the line, especially with Lavia struggling to maintain his fitness levels.
Amougou would likely be loaned to Chelsea’s sister club Strasbourg for the remainder of the 2024/25 term, continuing his development, but this could bear fruit in the long run.
With the versatile O’Reilly also on the radar, BlueCo are patently fighting for a specific profile of midfielder, but Amougou might just be the perfect option, with the aforementioned Mattinson also hailing him as a “ball progression machine” – fine quality for success in Maresca’s system.
With O’Reilly having only made six senior appearances for Manchester City, it’s fair to say that he’s more of an unknown commodity, albeit one of great talent.
But Amougou’s physicality, technique and completeness suggest that he would be the dream signing for Chelsea. If L’Equipe’s report is to be believed, they are ramping up the gas for the French prospect, perfectly illustrating that point.
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