Chelsea Transfer News: Roman Abramovich plotting January swoop for La Liga duo

Chelsea Finance 2014
Chelsea Finance 2014

Chelsea have had a poor start to the season by their standards and Antonio Conte is reportedly looking to improve his squad in the January transfer window.

The Italian manager spent 140 million Euros this summer and signed the likes of N’Golo Kante, Michy Batshuayi, Marcos Alonso and David Luiz.

However, the losses against Liverpool and Arsenal have apparently worried Roman Abramovich.

According to Spanish newspaper Sport, the Russian owner is not keen on spending another season without Champions League football and is seeking dramatic improvement in results.

The report also adds that Antonio Conte has already made it clear that the current squad is not good enough and he wants to sign at least one player for every position in January.

Sport claims that Abramovich is ready to break the bank in January in order to help secure a top four finish. The Russian is desperate for Chelsea to compete with the likes of Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal.

The Spanish media have also listed a few targets in their report. According to them, Abramovich is an admirer of Antoine Griezmann, Romelu Lukaku and Alvaro Morata and is willing to pay whatever it takes to sign them.

Morata and Lukaku were linked with a move to Stamford Bridge during the summer as well.

Chelsea already have Costa and Batshuayi as their strikers and signing Lukaku or Morata would make very little sense. Costa has been fantastic so far this season and the young Belgian striker has also impressed with his cameos.

Griezmann would be an intelligent addition as the Frenchman can operate as a winger as well as an attacking midfielder.

Having said that, it is highly unlikely that the Blues will manage to land any of those targets in January. Both Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid will be challenging for top honours this season and will not sanction the sale of a key attacker midway through the season.

Ronald Koeman will also hope to build on his good start to the season and Lukaku’s sale before the end of this season seems unlikely as well.

But in terms of priority, Chelsea are in desperate need of defenders first. The Blues need to sign another centre-back if they are to finish in top four. The likes of Ivanovic and Cahill are simply not good enough. With Kurt Zouma injured, Conte will have to rely on Luiz and Terry as his first choice defenders for now.

 

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