Chelsea have reportedly rekindled their interest in Jamaican international Leon Bailey and are considering a summer move for the Bayer Leverkusen star.
If the Daily Mail is to be believed, Chelsea are looking to relaunch the offensive for Leon Bailey. The Bayer Leverkusen winger was labelled as one of the hottest properties a few months ago. While the links seem to have cooled off, it looks like Chelsea have reignited their interest in the Jamaican superstar.
Leon Bailey has shown that the Caribbean spark is ready to make waves into the footballing sphere as well. Arriving at Bayer Leverkusen in January, 2017 from KRC Genk, Bailey took no time in adjusting himself to a higher level of competition and football.
The 2017-18 season put Bailey on the map as far as drawing interest from top European outfits is concerned. But, the rumours have since cooled off after a season that can only be labelled as disappointing after the numbers he posted in the 2017-18 season. With just 5 goals and 2 assists in Bundesliga, Bailey failed to match up to his earlier season and his return was one of the reasons top clubs opted to look elsewhere.
But, according to the Mail, Chelsea have rekindled their interest in the Jamaican winger to be the long-term replacements of their current options out wide. Eden Hazard has already agreed to a move away from Stamford Bridge, with Real Madrid issuing a confirmation as well.
While Callum Hudson-Odoi has emerged as a candidate and Christian Pulisic has arrived from Dortmund, Willian and Pedro are an ageing presence within the squad and need to be phased out of the first-team. Chelsea are currently set to serve a transfer ban, if CAS doesn’t overturn or freeze the ban.
But, in case they are allowed to sign players in the summer, signing a left winger will be top priority in order to replace Eden Hazard within the squad. Bailey could prove to be a brilliant piece of business. The disappointing 2018-19 season means the Bayer Leverkusen star will command less of a fee compared to what was previously doing the rounds.
The report states Leverkusen are demanding £80 million for Bailey, which Chelsea might be able to get it down purely based on the fact that the winger has not performed well last season. But, the Bundesliga outfit are in no hurry to sell Bailey, with the club also qualifying for the UEFA Champions League for the 2019-20 campaign.
In case the ban is only frozen, we could see Chelsea go in hard in the transfer window in order to satiate their potential needs for the upcoming transfer windows.
Bailey has proven to be an electrifying talent, albeit with perhaps, not enough consistency as of yet in his repertoire. A move does make sense for Chelsea, but not at the price Leverkusen are currently quoting. Expect Chelsea to try to bring the fee down to maybe around half of what they will rake in for Eden Hazard or go for some other prospect to fill up the left side of attack.
