Chelsea FC Transfer Rumours: Blues Supposedly Looking Hard At Dortmund Star

Well this is interesting, although you can probably file this one in the 'pure fantasy' draw. According to Duncan Castles and The National, Chelsea are planning a huge bid for highly-regarded Borussia Dortmund playmaker Mario Goetze this January. With Dortmund, who managed to finish last in their Champions League group despite an impressive squad, supposedly in the running for Borussia Moenchengladbach's Marco Reus, there's some speculation that they'd be willing to let Goetze leave.

The fact that Chelsea are interested ultimately means very little. Everyone is interested in Goetze, and the Blues are one of the few teams that could afford him and for whom the 19-year-old would constitute an immediate upgrade. There is no reason whatsoever that Chelsea would not want Mario Goetze on the team (although he'd be cup-tied in Europe), but there's also no reason that Dortmund would sell - they're very much in the mix at the business end of the Bundesliga table and losing one of their key players, no matter how much money they get for him, could jeopardise qualification for next year's Champions League group stages.

It certainly doesn't sound like they're willing to sell right now, anyway:

All I can say to all these clubs is they should save themselves the cost of a phone call, because they will be wasting their time and money contacting us. Even if someone rides out of the desert and makes us an offer, it would make no difference.

Mario is staying here.

-Hans-Joachim Watzke, Dortmund CEO.

All in all, this probably isn't going to happen. Chelsea would have to spend far too much money to bring Goetze in, Dortmund would have to secure an instant replacement, and the player himself would have to want to come, which would probably mean exorbitant wage demands. It's something to keep an eye on, however - and if Reus suddenly goes to Dortmund for a lot of money the idea of Goetze heading somewhere becomes far more plausible. Even then, however, the Blues would be competing with a lot of other teams for his signature.

Don't get your hopes up.

PS: As a replacement for Frank Lampard? Hah!