For those of you who don't know who Adel Taarabt is, he's a volatile but very talented Moroccan 22-year-old who was also the main driving force behind Queens Park Rangers topping the nPower Championship and securing promoition to the Premier League. Granted, that came after Tottenham Hotspur gave up on him for being too difficult to deal with, but anyone who can do this is worth a look:
He's not a super-exciting name like Neymar or Alexis Sanchez would be, but he's very, very good and appears to have gotten past the maturity issues that the likes of Neymar have yet to navigate. And I bring him up for very good reason. Check this out:
I like the London clubs. I do not hide my liking for Chelsea. I would prefer to play regularly at QPR to being on the bench for a season at Chelsea. Now, if they told me I'd play 20 games per season, I think I'd be very tempted.
-Adel Taarabt. Source: Sky Sports.
Taarabt isn't my first choice for improving on the wing, but he has a number of things going for him. Firstly, he's an upgrade to Chelsea's current wide players (and I include Daniel Sturridge in that statement). He can come inside and create, can beat defenders, and is a good shot to boot - he scored nineteen goals from midfield last season. Secondly, he'll come significantly cheaper than Neymar or Sanchez, and he's been in England for long enough that I believe he'd qualify as a home-grown player.
Chelsea could do much worse than making a play for Taarabt, and if we were trying to save money on width (to go after Luka Modric, Javier Pastore or Wesley Sneijder, say) I could definitely get behind that. For now, keep your eyes peeled. This one sounds intriguing.