Now that Chelsea have filled up their squad, have an A team and a B team and a host of young talents ready to progress, we expect their transfer activity to get significantly quieter.
It won’t exactly be one in, one out, but there will be a lot more focus on moving on unwanted players before crazy new first team additions are made.
One thing these sporting directors are clearly always going to be in the market for is young talent, and that’s why we take recent rumours collected by CaughtOffside that the Blues are interested in Atletico Madrid midfielder Pablo Barrios pretty seriously.
The 21 year old is tarting to pick up significant minutes in La Liga, with 7 appearances to his name this season. The current price tag being put on him is €50m which seems reasonable given his age and talent. Liverpool are also apparently hot on his tail.
Barrios a better midfield fit for Chelsea than struggling Enzo
Barrios is a really well rounded midfield who specialises in playmaking from a deep role. So if Enzo Fernandez is indeed sold (and there are more and more rumours about that happening), Barrios could be a perfect replacement. He would fit the Romeo Lavia – Moises Caicedo roles a lot better as a backup than Enzo because he just has that little more physicality to get around the pitch.
It might take a while for him to bulk up and adapt – he’s no Rodri, let’s be clear – but we can see the potential here. When Enzo Maresca gets the controlled, passing style in place that he wants, Barrios could be an ideal player for it.
As it stands we’ve seen Cesare Casadei and Renato Veiga fill in for Caicedo and Lavia when they’re out, and long term he will want a better solution than that.
