There’s now a good chance £43m player joins Chelsea, deal has accelerated – journalist

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Chelsea now have a good chance of signing Lyon’s Rayan Cherki this summer.

That is according to journalist Graeme Bailey.

Bailey has delivered a fascinating update regarding the future of 19-year-old talent Rayan Cherki, who’s been linked as a transfer target for Chelsea in the past couple of weeks.

90min claimed earlier this week that Chelsea have made contact about signing Cherki, who Lyon value at €50million (£43million) this summer. They added that the Blues think they can strike a deal closer to the €35million (£30million) mark, though.

Now, there’s a positive update regarding Chelsea’s pursuit of the attacking midfielder.

Bailey claims that Chelsea’s move for Cherki has accelerated very recently, with members of Mauricio Pochettino’s staff eager to see the player join them at Stamford Bridge.

Apparently, there’s now a good chance this transfer will happen in this summer window.

Speaking on 90min’s Talking Transfers podcast, Bailey explained on Cherki: “He is a player they like. It’s accelerated in the last few weeks actually this one. They were linked and there was talks about him when they were talking to Malo Gusto. Lyon were enquiring about [Christian] Pulisic and the name Cherki came up again.

“My understanding is that Chelsea’s backroom staff are really pushing for this. They like him an awful lot. It will be interesting to see where we go here, but Chelsea are pushing forward with it…It’s one where Chelsea are hopeful.

“They were linked with Gabi Veiga, but I think he’s ahead of him in Chelsea’s pecking order now, keep an eye on this. There’s a good chance of this happening, this one. They are not a million miles away in terms of fee. Chelsea have really stepped this up in the last two weeks.”

Cherki, who’s still only 19, looks a very exciting talent with a big future ahead of him.

He’s an extremely skilful player with such close control and the ability to frighten defenders when he dribbles at them. The way he can use both feet is exquisite, too.

The French teenager has started to grow into a more important first-team player at Lyon in recent times, but is he ready to make the leap into the Chelsea first team next season.

It sounds like we might find out sooner rather than later based on the recent transfer speculation.