According to reports, Chelsea are now leading the race to sign Liverpool target Yacine Brahimi.
Earlier, the Algerian winger was linked with a move to Liverpool, but if latest reports are to be believed, then the Blues have jumped ahead of their Premier League rivals in the race for Brahimi’s signature.
According to a report in O Jogo (via Metro), Chelsea could finalise a move for the highly rated winger in the next few days. The report further states that Porto will ask for £23.5 million for the Algerian. Brahimi’s playing rights are partly owned by another consortium so this may complicate the deal.
50% of Brahimi’s playing rights are owned by Porto, and Doyen Sports is the party which owns the other half of his playing rights. 80% of of the winger’s economic rights were sold to the agency after he moved from Granada. Porto later brought back 30% of his rights last year.
‘Momentos Brahimi’ at Stamford Bridge?
Since moving to Porto in 2014, the 26-year-old has caught the attention of some of Europe’s biggest clubs with his performances for the Dragões. He is now one of Europe’s most feared wingers and has scored 21 times in 85 matches in all competitions for Porto. Though a natural winger, he can be deployed in almost any attacking position.
He was named the BBC African Player Of The Year for 2014. He is blessed with pace with and without the ball, and has superb dribbling ability. His moments of skill have endeared him to the fans at the Estadio do Dragao and they have been labelled as “Momentos Brahimi” which translates to “the Brahimi moments”.
Chelsea faced Porto in the group stages of the Champions League last season and Brahimi was a standout performer in the both the legs, giving the Chelsea defence two very difficult nights. In recent seasons, Chelsea have made something of a habit of acquiring players who perform well against them, like Salah, Torres and Falcao. Chelsea are well stacked in midfield but it is likely that Conte would want to provide some competition for the likes of Hazard, Willian and Pedro. The Blues could certainly do with some “Brahimi moments” in Stamford Bridge next season as Conte tries to lead Chelsea back to the top of the Premier League.
