Chelsea are reportedly in active talks with a Serie A club about signing their midfielder, who could arrive at Stamford Bridge as a replacement for Cesare Casadei.
Cesare Casadei, 22, is still officially a Chelsea player at this moment. However, the box-to-box midfielder is strongly linked with a return to Italy.
Chelsea’s Casadei is subject to plenty of interest as Serie A clubs Lazio, Torino and Fiorentina fight over his signautre in the January transfer window. Apparently, Enzo Maresca’s side are confident they’ll be able to move him on with a big sell-on clause.
If Casadei does exit in the final days of the window, he would leave behind a gap in the Blues squad in the centre of the park.
Chelsea in negotiations to sign Hellas Verona star Reda Belahyane
Hellas Verona midfielder Reda Belahyane, 20, has been mentioned in rumours as a Blues target already this month.
Chelsea identified Belahyane as a potential replacement for Casadei as they started working on a deal him.
Now, Maresca’s side are kicking on with their attempts to sign the Serie A youngster in this window.
According to Gianluca Di Marzio, Chelsea are trying to negotiate the transfer of Hellas Verona star Belahyane for around €15m (£13m).
Apparently, Blues officials have been in Venice this week trying to sort the deal. In fact, Chelsea are attempting to ‘move forward’ with their conversations about signing the 20-year-old.
French Ligue 1 club Rennes are also keen on Belahyane and are ready to make their own move for his signature, too.
Who is Reda Belahyane?
Unlike many of Chelsea’s transfer targets, Belahyane is a lesser-known name.
The youngster is an interesting defensive midfielder who’s playing an important role this season for a Verona side sitting 17th in the Italian top division.
| Appearances (Starts) | Goals | Assists | Passes completed | Pass completion | Tackles won | Interceptions | Successful take-ons |
| 21 (16) | 0 | 2 | 562 | 84.1% | 24 | 10 | 31 |
His signing wouldn’t be the most glamorous or adventurous, but Chelsea clearly like what they see from the deep-lying midfielder. On paper, he certainly does tick a lot of boxes with his profile.
Let’s wait and see if the Blues get this deal over the line in the remainder of the window to strengthen their options in the centre of the park, where they do look a bit light on numbers right now.
If they can’t recruit another midfielder in the time that’s left, they may need to consider promoting from within. Incidentally, Chelsea boss Maresca admire midfielder Samuel Rak-Sakyi from the academy.
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