Chelsea expect to complete £100m signing in January, with Palmer, Rogers, Alonso to thank
Chelsea fully expect to complete the signing of a midfielder who’ll cost around £100m in January, and Blues fans have Xabi Alonso, Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers to thank.
The Blues oversaw great change in their midfield ranks over the summer, signing Jordan Henderson and Valentin Barco, while selling Enzo Fernandez.
There’s a rather large gap in quality between those who arrived and the Argentine who left. Ideally, Chelsea would have signed a third midfielder, and one more suited to making an instant but also long-lasting impact.
Chelsea bid £64m for Bournemouth’s Alex Scott mid-way through the summer window. The Cherries refused to sell ahead of a first ever campaign in Europe.
The dying days of the window then saw Chelsea come within an eyelash of signing Lamine Camara from Moncao, only to see the Ligue 1 side pull the plug at the eleventh hour.
But according to our colleagues over on TEAMtalk, it’s Scott who Chelsea will go back in for in January. What’s more, there’s a firm belief at Stamford Bridge that the blockbuster deal will get made at the second time of asking.
Chelsea believe they’ll sign Alex Scott in January
TEAMtalk’s insider, Fraser Fletcher, wrote: ‘Chelsea are increasingly confident of securing the signature of Bournemouth midfielder Alex Scott during the January transfer window, with sources believing the 23-year-old will find the move difficult to turn down.’
Scott recently won his first and second caps for England, and after impressing in the 7-0 thumping of Croatia, looks set to be a mainstay in Thomas Tuchel’s squads from here on out.
At club level, Scott is reportedly drawn to the idea of not only being coached by Xabi Alonso, but playing alongside some of world football’s best players who are only now hitting their peak years.
Fletcher namechecked Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers as two stars he’s been informed Scott would love to play with on a regular basis.
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Bournemouth haven’t given up hope of convincing Scott to sign a new deal, and the carrot they’re dangling is allowing a release clause to be inserted into his terms.
That is the strategy Bournemouth previously used to get an extra six months out of Antoine Semenyo before Manchester City eventually activated his release clause.
However, Scott continues to resist Bournemouth’s attempts to tie the midfielder down to a new contract.
And come January, Scott will have just 18 months remaining on his current deal. Chelsea believe Bournemouth will finally admit defeat and cash in at that time, though they’ll be handsomely rewarded if doing so.
The Blues bid £64m over the summer, though a far loftier sum will be required to seal the mid-season deal.
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The Cherries will set their stall out at £100m, which they believe represents fair market value given Declan Rice, Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez and Elliot Anderson all moved for more than £100m at similar ages to Scott.
Chelsea have cash to splash having sold Fernandez on deadline day and failing to sign a replacement.
