Chelsea linked target’s wait may be prolonged despite the Blues’ desperation

As we close in on January, we only expect the number of transfer links flying around to increase, and at the moment there’s certainly an intensification in terms of our links to sparkling Napoli winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

Just a couple of weeks ago it looked like we had solved our attacking problems – Raheem Sterling and Cole Palmer were looking great out wide, Nicolas Jackson was finally scoring up front, and Christopher Nkunku was on his was back to fitness.

But a devastating 4-1 defeat to Newcastle has sent everyone back to the drawing board, and it’s no surprise to see the Kvaratskhelia links revived in these circumstances.

Dean Jones’ report in Give Me Sport says that we’ve been scouting the 22 year old for some time, and that our scouts are very impressed – how could they not be? The really hard part will be getting Napoli to part with the Georgian given they’re also under pressure to sell Victor Osimhen, and want to keep at least one:

“When you’ve got the likes of Chelsea and Man City on similar scouting missions you know there is something special going on – and I do believe that both clubs really like him. I have to say though that nothing is going to happen in January in terms of a transfer and even in the summer this is going to remain a difficult deal. Napoli are looking to bounce back from a bad start to this season and they don’t want to lose him and Victor Osimhen in the same year.

“At the moment it has to be said that Osimhen is closer to a big transfer and I think he will be the first to go…so that might mean Kvaratskhelia has to wait a while for an exit.”

It looks like this one is about to get intense as we approach January.