The final hours of the deadline day will soon be upon us and Chelsea are rummaging through the market searching desperately for a defender. The latest names include West Ham defender Angelo Ogbonna, Benfica’s Victor Lindelof and Zenit’s Ezequiel Garay.
The following 24 hours maybe very crucial for Chelsea’s season as they still haven’t been able to comply with Antonio Conte’s request of bringing him a central defender, preferably one who is good with the ball at his feet. But Chelsea are exploring all possibilities in the market desperate to make the right approach.
Chelsea have also been linked to David Luiz in the last few hours, however a return for the Brazilian to Stamford Bridge is very unlikely – a fact that Chelsea administration realises quite well which is why they are also looking at the following names.
Ogbonna and West Ham
Antonio Conte bought Angelo Ogbonna, at the time Italy’s most promising young defender, from rivals Torino while he was in charge of Juventus. Ogbonna never became a regular at Juventus, just like Sebastian Giovinco, who was also bought in accord with Conte’s wishes. As a result, Ogbonna made the Premier League switch to West Ham.
However, his career trajectory may not be a fair assessment of his talents and the degree to which Conte values him. Conte took him to Euros this summer with the Italian National Team. And it seems that now Conte wants the defender with him at Chelsea if reports from Sky Sports Italia are to be believed (via Football-Italia).
It was understandably difficult for Ogbonna to get into a team consisting of Chielini, Barzagli and Bonucci, but he will find it relatively easier to get into the Chelsea starting lineup.
Lindelof and Benfica
The 25-year-old Swedish International from Benfica has caught a lot of attention from Spanish, Italian and English clubs. Victor Lindelof is a versatile defender capable of playing many positions much akin to David Luiz and he could be available for a meager £25 million which is his release clause.
The Express reports that Chelsea are willing to activate his release clause for the Swedish defender who has six caps for Sweden.
Garay and Zenit
According to Russian media outlet Sovsport, Chelsea have sent representatives to Russia to find out whether a deal can be closed for Argentine defender Ezequiel Garay or not (via Italian Football Daily). The 29-year-old defender has been linked to Valencia as a replacement for Shkodran Mustafi, who joined Arsenal recently.
In fact Zenit manager Mircea Lucescu has confirmed that Garay was headed to Spain, but the talks had stalled after Valencia failed to reach an agreement with Zenit for the transfer price (via Goal). Chelsea could take advantage of this situation and bring the defender to Stamford Bridge to feature alongside John Terry in defence.
