Chelsea are preparing to face Brentford in the Premier League this afternoon, and while getting ready for it we noticed some eye catching transfer news.
Miguel Delaney is a well respected journalist who often gets good transfer scoops. So when we saw his name attached to a rumour about Chelsea trying to buy Real Madrid midfielder Fede Valverde, we were stunned.
Buying the 27 year old would require a major fee, breaking our current model. Delaney did indeed mention Chelsea “making a huge bid” for Valverde. But disappointingly, he gives no source.
One can only assume he’s referring to reports from a few days ago by Spanish site Fichajes that we’re interested. They make things up all the time, but we’d expect better from Delaney, both in his choice of sources, and in simply observing that this sort of move would be quite the opposite of what Chelsea do these days.
Valverde not a signing that fits Chelsea’s model
We know there is no “rule” about Chelsea only signing young players, but there’s no getting away from the fact that their strategy is to buy low and sell high. Buying high on Valverde at the peak of his powers would guarantee a loss further down the line.
And even that is assuming he would want to come, which is by no means a given. This one is a non-starter, sadly. Unless there’s a 180 pivot.
In other news…
Chelsea’s team for today’s game is interesting, with some selections forced on Liam Rosenior but others likely his decision. One key attacking star is missing, and we hope the team has enough firepower on the bench without him.
Trevoh Chalobah has a big interview with Match of the Day this weekend, and they’ve already released an interesting clip of him naming his top 3 central defenders.