Chelsea should target Claudio Marchisio

Having been linked by the Express with a move to Stamford Bridge over the summer transfer window earlier this year, Juventus midfielder Claudio Marchisio is again being linked with a potential London switch over the upcoming January transfer window. The 27-year-old hasn’t quite showed his full talent as part of Conte’s first-team, but has proven himself to be a very strong player during his time in Turin and would certainly make an intriguing option for Jose Mourinho’s men to pursue.

Marchisio has been below the standard of his Juventus teammates this season in terms of his total goal-scoring, chances created, pass accuracy, and also in his defensive work, which has led to him featuring a little more sporadically for the Italian heavyweights. The midfielder is winning less than half of his attempted tackles this season and has completed just three take-ons all campaign (although that has never been the strongest area of his game at all).

The Italian was much better in his defensive stability last season — winning a much higher percentage of his tackles than this season — and Mourinho will no doubt look to those numbers as much as he will this year’s.

However, at the same time, there is a level of consistency that needs to be displayed from Marchisio if he is to indeed attract a big offer from another top European club this summer, and based on what we’ve seen this season, it’s hard to say that the consistency has been as prevalent as many would have liked.

The question that remains, then, is as to whether Marchisio wants to leave Juventus this summer, and if he does, whether Mourinho would be interested in a potential offer.

And in answer to the first part of that question, it doesn’t appear good, with the midfielder telling the club’s official television channel last week that he “wants to continue winning this jersey” and that he has “no intentions of changing” clubs any time soon.

Even if he does change his mind on that quote, it’s hard to see Mourinho being all that interested in him either, given that he isn’t exactly in the middle of a standout year for the defending Italian league champions.

The Portuguese boss has a number of strong central midfield options available to him, and with plenty of up-and-coming talents either away on loan or injured (in the case of Marco van Ginkel) there’s not exactly a shortage of new talent for the years ahead either. That’s not to say, of course, that the option of boosting his squad with a positionally sound player like Marchisio isn’t appealing; it’s just as to whether the money could be better spent reinforcing other positions instead.

To that end, the answer is surely then that there won’t be any interest this summer from Chelsea for Marchisio. But the January transfer window is called the “silly season” for a reason, so don’t be surprised to hear this in the rumour mill once again!