Reports: Chelsea close in on signing of £62 million rated superstar

What’s the story

Premier League champions, Chelsea, are keen on improving their squad as they look to defend their domestic crown whilst simultaneously mounting a realistic challenge for the UEFA Champions League. In this capacity, as per Calcio Mercato, Roman Abramovich’s charges are close to signing the Juventus left back Alex Sandro for around 70 million Euros, or £62 million and it is likely that he will become Antonio Conte’s first choice for left wing back.

In case you didn’t know

The Brazilian left back, 26, joined Juventus in 2015 after having played for Atletico Paranaense, Deportivo Maldonado, Santos, and Porto. It was at the Portuguese giants that left-back really came into his own and now he is by far the second-best left-back in Brazil... and that’s only because their first-choice is the world’s best left-back, Marcelo.

Quick, athletic, full of running and an excellent crosser of the ball, Sandro would be a perfect fit for the Conte system that relies heavily on attacking wing-backs.

The heart of the matter

Conte has been linked with two players from his old team, Juventus, Leonardo Bonucci and Alex Sandro. While the transfer of the former is highly unlikely given the Italian’s attachment to Juventus, the one for Sandro makes sense for both teams – for Juventus, it fills their coffers once again for another summer splurge on bargain signings while for Chelsea it gives a very important resource in terms of Conte’s system.

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Sandro has a gifted left foot on him:

The tough customer won't have much trouble adapting to the Premier League, will they?

Author’s take

Real Madrid have shown rather conclusively that the need of the hour to mount a reasonable challenge on both domestic and European fronts is a deep, deep, squad. For this, it is reasonable that Conte fill up in the positions most likely to draw wear and tear and that is the wing back position. Although Marcos Alonso has been exceptional at that job over the course of the season, Conte obviously feels that he can still do with an upgrade.

However, for Juventus, it might send mixed signals – as much as this will give them more financial muscle, selling to a direct competitor in Europe will be viewed as a signal that they are still not the giants they once were on the continent. This might the one roadblock the Blues face as they look to close up the first deal of what Conte will hope is a fruitful summer.