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Chelsea's 19 year-old Italian striker Fabio Borini has never got much of a chance with the first team, and his contract is due to run out come summer, so it's not much of a surprise to see him linked with a move away from Stamford Bridge. Despite excellent performances with the reserves, Borini has seen his place in the depth chart over taken by players like Gael Kakuta and Daniel Sturridge, and a shoulder injury suffered in December certainly hasn't helped his cause to break into Carlo Ancelotti's senior squad. At this point, it's only a matter of time before he leaves, and Parma seems as good a choice as any.
We have started talks with the player. But for the time being Borini is a Chelsea player. We are nevertheless optimistic that this transfer will be completed.
-Tommaso Ghirardi, Parma President. Source: Guardian.
Parma are allowed to speak to Borini without negotiating with Chelsea because he's less than six months from finishing his contract. It sounds like they still need to come to terms with Borini and then make a bid for him, but it's unlikely that Chelsea will turn down any reasonable offer, since they stand to lose him for free this summer anyway. Borini, whose career began with Bologna's youth side, joined the Blues almost three and a half years ago and made a total of eight appearances with the first team, all in the 2009/10 season.
Despite thrashing Juventus 4-1 away earlier this month, Parma are on a poor run of form and currently sit 15th in the Serie A table, having lost eight of 20 matches. If Borini does make the transfer to Italy, he may find himself playing alongside another former Blue: Hernan Crespo is their leading goalscorer this season, with seven goals in all competitions this year. Although it's unlikely that Borini will make a major impact on Parma's fortunes this season, he has all the tools to develop into a good first team striker for the team, even if he's not quite in the top tier of prospects.