Chelsea had reportedly been tracking Saul Niguez for at least two years before landing him on the final day of the summer transfer window.
This is according to the Telegraph, who claim that Chelsea’s head of international scouting Scott McLachlan had been looking at Saul long before he joined the club.
McLachlan had been assessing the Spaniard’s skill set and suitably to potentially one day play in the Premier League.
The Blues are not ones to recruit players without properly measuring their quality beforehand.
Take Mohammed Salah and Kevin De Bruyne for example.
Neither worked out at Stamford Bridge, but they clearly had the talents to take over the English top flight.
This isn’t to say Saul will have a similar impact, but it suggests Chelsea do know what they’re doing in terms of recruitment.
Kante concerns
It seems that the former Atletico Madrid man has arrived in South West London at just the right time.
Yesterday, N’Golo Kante pulled up with an ankle problem whilst away on France national team duty.
Only last weekend away to Liverpool was the midfielder forced off at half-time due to the same injury.
There is still just over a week before Chelsea’s next league fixture, yet Thomas Tuchel won’t want to rush Kante back to fitness.
With his two other central centurions away with their countries- Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic- Tuchel might just push Saul up the pecking order.
He certainly won’t be without match fitness, having featured in all three of Atletico’s opening La Liga outings.
But will he be up to speed with his new colleagues? The proof should be in the pudding.
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