Chelsea’s summer has been shaped by one departure they haven’t quite completed yet.
Chelsea’s summer has been shaped by one departure they haven’t quite completed yet.
Pedro Neto’s move to Al Hilal is close, with the Saudi club’s latest bid narrowing the gap on Chelsea’s asking price, and super agent Jorge Mendes is a step away from getting it signed off.
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Once that money lands, the Blues have a wide slot to fill and a shortlist already drawn up.
Rafael Leao was the first name on it.
Mendes reportedly pushed the Milan forward, and Chelsea weren’t convinced.
So the same agent has pivoted to a different client, one who’s spent the summer being linked to Anfield.
According to La Gazzeta, Francisco Conceicao is now Chelsea’s leading target, with Juventus holding out for €40m.
The Portuguese winger had already drawn Premier League interest earlier in the window, with Liverpool among the clubs credited with looking at him before their attention turned to Bradley Barcola and Yankuba Minteh.
Those links have cooled as Andoni Iraola’s side pursued other options, leaving Chelsea a clearer run at a player Mendes is now shopping between London and Riyadh.
The numbers behind the pursuit are solid rather than spectacular.
Conceicao registered three goals and five assists across 31 Serie A appearances last season, playing 2,100 minutes at an average of 68 per game.
That’s eight goal involvements in the league, or 0.34 per 90.
Across all competitions he managed four goals and five assists in 42 games.
Dig into the underlying data and a pattern emerges.
His non-penalty xG per 90 sits at 0.29, giving him a season npxG of 6.89, which places him in the top 83rd percentile of Serie A players.
He took 73 shots at 3.11 per 90, but only 23 found the target, a 31.51 percent accuracy rate, and he scored once every 24.33 attempts.
Those five assists ranked him 12th across the whole division.
He creates far more than he converts.
He turned 23 in December and stands at 1.66m, a genuinely small, left-footed right winger who plays on the touchline and cuts inside.
Juventus made his loan from Porto permanent last summer at a combined €41.5m, so €40m represents them roughly breaking even.
Chelsea’s opening position is €30m.
Multiple reports suggest that it won’t be enough, and that if the Blues reach €40m, Juventus would likely accept.
That sale would then fund a move for a different profile of forward, with Joshua Zirkzee of Manchester United among those under consideration in Turin.
The complication is Conceicao himself.
He’d prefer to stay, sees Juventus as the right environment for his development, and Luciano Spalletti is expected to start him against Frosinone.
He was also told at the start of the window that a sale was possible.
If Mendes arrives with the right number, the player’s preference probably won’t be decisive.