Chelsea FC Transfer Rumours: Move To Juventus Would Suit, Says Alex

Remember when Alex was going to go to Bayern Munich and be the first player sold in Andre Villas-Boas' grand exodus? Obviously, that hasn't happened, but the idea that the Brazilian centre half is expendable has only gained strength with the emergence of Slobodan Rajkovic as a potential bench player for Chelsea, and now it sounds like Alex himself is interested in a move away.

If Juventus want me outright [i.e. not on loan] I'd be very happy; I would accept. Juventus are a great club and playing in Italy interests me.

-Alex. Source: Sky Italia via Twitter.

Alex, of course, could get paid good money in Turin and his job would be somewhat easier than with Chelsea, where he's either the third or fourth-choice central defender, depending on where you think Branislav Ivanovic plays under Villas-Boas. I'd be shocked if he didn't want to move on at this point. Juventus could probably do with another solid defender, and Alex fits the bill just fine. But should Chelsea be willing to sell?

We've touched on this a couple of times already this summer, but although the club has great depth at centre back, losing some would hurt because of a few factors - namely John Terry's repeated injury problems and Ivanovic's status as the team's theoretical starting right back. Chelsea could mitigate their reliance on Alex in a couple of ways. Firstly, they could acquire a starting right back that pushes Ivanovic into dedicated cover of Terry and David Luiz. Secondly, they could find a spare centre back lying around.

That centre back is called Slobodan Rajkovic, and he'd work perfectly as a backup - if, that is, he gets his work permit situation sorted out. Chelsea have tried to get a special hearing for him (Rajkovic hasn't played that often for his national team, what with being 22 years old and behind both Nemanja Vidic and Neven Subotic in the Serbian pecking order, which is no embarrassment), but we haven't heard any details on that in about a month.

Should Chelsea manage to get Rajkovic playing, Alex really is expendable, and I would suggest that they sell immediately, especially as the player wants to go. Otherwise, things get a little dicey - and we'd be at risk of the same scenario that led to Chelsea spending big money to buy David Luiz last January.