Chelsea are still interested in making two young midfield signings this summer including a move for Manchester City wonderkid Nico O’Reilly. Enzo Maresca’s side had a relatively quiet winter transfer window by their standards - the only signing being 19-year-old Mathis Amougou from Saint-Etienne. Instead, Chelsea’s focus was predominantly on exits as a host of players were allowed to leave Stamford Bridge both permanently and on loan.
That included the sale of Cesare Casadei, who moved to Torino, while Ben Chilwell, Joao Felix, Axel Disasi, Carney Chukwuemeka and Renato Veiga were all allowed to complete loan moves. But it appears that plans are already being put in place for signings in just a few months’ time. Over the closing days of the January window, Chelsea were linked to Sporting Lisbon midfielder Dario Essugo and Man City starlet Nico O’Reilly. The London side made an offer for the latter but saw their Premier League rivals reject that approach because they did not want a repeat of the Cole Palmer move.
The 22-year-old swapped the Etihad for Stamford Bridge for £40m in 2023 and he has gone on to score 39 goals in 71 games. But according to the Mail, O’Reilly remains on Chelsea’s radar, as well as Essugo. The Sporting Lisbon midfielder was not signed in part due to him having already played for two clubs this season including current loan side Las Palmas. There is also a decision to be made on winter signing Amagou.
The young midfielder is set to train with the Chelsea first-team over the coming months before being sent out on loan to sister side Strasbourg. Speaking after completing his initial move to West London, he said: “I'm very happy. What is your verdict on Chelsea's January window? Share your thoughts in the comments below. “It's an honour for me to sign for such a big club like Chelsea. They believe in young players and the process they have in place to develop us is fantastic.”.
Despite plans already being put in place for the summer window, Chelsea boss Maresca has expressed his relief at the Blues being closed for business for now. He said: “Everything that happened was planned from me, from the club, from all together. "We have Tyrique (George) who has a very good profile. Probably we can find some different solutions. I'm very happy because (the window) is closed. The ones that are here are the ones that are going to be with us until the end. The ones that left, we were all agreed that they could go.".
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