Chelsea, it seems have left it late in their bid for defensive reinforcements. If reports are to be believed, the Londoners will be making a bid for the Milan centre-back Alessio Romagnoli. The Serie A club having signed the Italy under-21 from Roma last season, are hoping that the player himself will refute any transfer advances and walk into the annals of other legendary Milan defenders such as Maldini, Nesta etc.
Romagnoli joined Milan for £21m last summer, making 34 starts in the Italian top-flight. His current contract runs until 2020 and his new deal will cover the same period but have the option of a year's extension.
The long-term knee injury to Kurt Zouma, has made the Italian manager, Antonio Conte, feel that he is a player short in that department. While, the defensive pairing of Gary Cahill and John Terry has been excellent, it has to be taken note of that both goals can be attributed to pieces of terrific finishing.
The Serie A club though is not too keen on letting the defender go, given the lack of defensive options they have themselves. The current squad includes the trio of Gabriel Paletta, Gustavo Gómez and Cristián Zapata, although the latter has been injured, thus leaving the current Milan coach, Vincenzo Montella short on options.
While Branislav Ivanovic, has stepped in as centre-back at times, it would be wise for Conte to look for other young and viable options, with most of the first options being above 30. AC Milan confirmed on their official TV channel on Monday that they have rejected a bid "in excess of €25 million" for defender Alessio Romagnoli from Chelsea.
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The CEO of Milan, Adriano Galliani has stated that, they consider the player “unsellable”. Conte may have overlooked Romagnoli when picking his 23-man Italy squad for Euro 2016, but the 21-year-old is regarded as one of the brightest defensive prospects in Serie A. Given the restrictive options at Stamford Bridge, Conte knows that an injury to any of them will have to result in a makeshift defence.
Having already been rebuffed in their approach for Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly, whose price has risen to the tune of £60 million, Conte accepted that prices had been unrealistic this summer.
Chelsea have already let Papy Djilobodji, the Senegal international, join Sunderland for a reported £8 million. The defender was bought last summer for a reported £2.7m but his only appearance came as a substitute in a 4-1 Capital One Cup win at Walsall. Having spent the second half of last season on loan with Werder Bremen, the Senegalese will now continue his English football education under David Moyes.
