Mauricio Pochettino is demanding an extra buying effort from Chelsea; Robert Lewandowski is emerging as a new target for Saudi clubs; Caglar Söyüncü needs to play. Here are some of the main stories over the last few days of the transfer market from TribalFootball’s transfer expert Rudy Galetti.
POCHETTINO SEEKING DEFENSIVE REINFORCEMENTS
Three defeats in the last four Premier League games have thrown Chelsea back into the abyss. After the convincing victory against Tottenham (1-4) at the beginning of November and the explosive 4-4 draw against Manchester City, Pochettino and his team have lost all of their last 3 away matches against Newcastle, Manchester United and Everton, remaining on just 19 points in the standings.
A paradoxical situation for a team that in a year and a half has spent almost 1.2bn euros to build a squad in deep trouble. And on top of that, now, the Argentine coach has asked the club to be very active in the January transfer market, with new important signings. In particular, Pochettino asked for reinforcements – even at the end of the match against Everton – in defence: with the almost certain farewell of Trevoh Chalobah and Malang Sarr next winter – and also in light of the many injuries in that role.
Chelsea are already making concrete moves to buy a new centre-back. However, there is turmoil also in attack: Victor Osimhen remains the favourite profile for the Blues. If the situation in January is complicated, as already reported in recent weeks, undoubtedly an all-in attempt will be made for the Nigerian striker in the summer.
SOYUNCU NEEDS TO PLAY – AN ATLETICO FAREWELL?
In the summer his arrival on a free transfer from Leicester – just relegated – had made Atletico Madrid fans happy. However, the season in Spain for the Turkish player hasn’t practically started yet.
Only 4 appearances in La Liga for a total of 61 minutes played and just one appearance in the Champions League is a poor record for Cağlar Söyüncü, who expected to be on the pitch regularly with the Colchoneros. Despite the few minutes collected so far, the defender wants to remain in Madrid, under the guidance of Diego Simeone, ready to take his chances when he he’s called upon.
However, from Turkey some clubs are starting to move concretely for him, trying to take an advantage of this difficult moment to convince Cağlar – at least for 6 months – to transfer to his homeland.
To date, the teams interested are Besiktas and Fenerbahce, both looking for an experienced defender like the former Leicester centre-back. Even in Italy there are admirers of Söyüncü, like AS Roma and Josè Mourinho, always attentive to the market to strengthen the defensive roles: anything can therefore happen in the future of the 27-year-old.
LOPETEGUI – WHY HE REJECTED AL-ITTIHAD
A few weeks ago, Julen Lopetegui was one step away from becoming the new coach of Al Ittihad, replacing Nuno Espirito Santo, recently sacked. After an initial hesitation, the Spanish coach seemed ready to say yes to the Saudi proposal: however, during the discussion of the final contractual details, Julen suddenly changed his mind and opened the way for Marcelo Gallardo, who didn’t think for a moment in accepting the bench of the club captained by Karim Benzema.
The choice of Lopetegui has surprised everyone, no doubt, but now we have an explanation: after his approval on the possible salary of Al Ittihad, in fact, he received proposals from English clubs and, considering his desire to return in the Premier League, ultimately declined Al Ittihad’s bid.
Now Nottingham Forest – among the teams that had contacted him weeks ago – are still pushing for Lopetegui: not by chance, Julen is considered the main candidate to replace Steve Cooper – close to being sacked – who from mid-September has collected only one victory in the Premier League, against Aston Villa on November 5th.
MARCOS LEONARDO – MANY CLUBS ON HIS TRAIL
He was one of the strikers most courted by AS Roma throughout last summer, but despite the player’s desire to join Serie A, Santos – his current club – was absolutely adamant, rejecting every attempt from the Italian club.
Now, however, the situation of Marcos Leonardo has completely changed and, with an attractive offer, his team is ready to let him go to land in Europe. However, the Giallorossi, who this summer seemed to have no rivals for the striker, now have to deal with a tough competition which, week after week, is taking an interest in Marcos.
And so Real Madrid, Arsenal, Newcastle and AC Milan join AS Roma in the race for the 20-year-old who, despite his 13 goals in the Brazilian Serie A, was unable to avoid the historic club suffering a first relegation to Serie B in 115 years of history. The team, from its side, has already made it known that next season it won’t use the number 10 of Pelè – who passed away almost a year ago – out of respect for him.
And perhaps they won’t even have their current number 9 anymore: after the relegation, in fact, Marcos Leonardo reiterated his desire to gain experience elsewhere. Where? This, as mentioned, is still to be decided, but what is practically certain is his farewell will be soon.
LEWANDOWSKI A NEW TARGET FOR SAUDI ARABIA
With the winter transfer window that is coming, the Saudi Private Investment Fund is intensifying its contacts with some top players in Europe to verify the margins of negotiation for their possible arrival in the Saudi League.
We talked about Kevin De Bruyne being approached weeks ago, who confirmed his desire to only think about Manchester City until the end of the season. Then it was the turn of Bruno Fernandes, included on the list of preferences. As was Luka Modric, whose chances of joining former Real Madrid teammates such as Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema in Saudi Arabia are growing week by week. Now, the new name on the table for the PIF is Robert Lewandowski.
Some Saudi representatives have already contacted the striker’s entourage to understand his willingness to have a new experience far from Barcelona. Now the first preliminary approaches have been made, and then, with the arrival of the summer, they will try to push for him, to convince the Pole to accept a very rich proposal. The Saudi Federation, especially starting next June, wants to further enrich the presence of top players in its League.
This is also why, despite rumours of recent weeks, players like Jota and Ruben Neves are unlikely to leave their clubs during this season to return to Europe.
