Transfer Talk: Chelsea eye more spending in January with Alvarez topping list
Janusz Michallik explains why he still sees Chelsea qualifying for the Champions League this season. (0:43)
The summer transfer window is closed for the major leagues in Europe. However, with an eye on January, there’s plenty of gossip swirling about who’s moving where. Transfer Talk brings you all the latest buzz on rumours, comings, goings and, of course, done deals!
Chelsea had a busy summer transfer window and are ready to continue being active when January arrives as they aim to improve their midfield, reports The Evening Standard.
They failed with a late £50 million attempt to sign Southampton‘s Romeo Lavia — who had not long joined the Saints from Manchester City — having already missed out on Ajax Amsterdam‘s Edson Alvarez after offering £40m.
They also had a late offer for PSV Eindhoven‘s Ibrahim Sangare rejected, although they did bring in Denis Zakaria on loan from Juventus.
However, they still haven’t given up on recruiting further and Mexico international Alvarez remains their favoured option as they look to revisit that position in the winter.
There will be encouragement as the 24-year-old reportedly told Ajax that he wanted to move to Stamford Bridge, although the Eredivisie giants insisted he wasn’t able to leave so late in the window.
Chelsea aren’t stopping there. They are also working to sign 19-year-old attacking midfielder Arsen Zakharyan from Dinamo Moscow.
The Blues looked at Zakharyan during the summer but it was deemed impossible to sign him due to sanctions the west have placed on Russia.
The ongoing invasion of Ukraine has made it difficult to sign players from Russia, limiting the ability to pay transfer fees or for players to move between countries.
Chelsea are willing to work to find a solution in the coming months to see Zakharyan join for the £12.6m fee in his release clause.
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