Chelsea, AC Milan agree van Ginkel loan - report

We're coming up to the end of the transfer window, which means we're going to get a flood of fun rumour updates. We're as desperate for information as the rest of you, and with the Fernando Torres and Marco van Ginkel stories the only active transfers, every little piece of progress is going to be reported and analysed to death. So here's today's little piece of progress on the Marco van Ginkel loan.

Di Marzio are reporting that Chelsea and AC Milan have now agreed to a deal to take the young midfielder to San Siro for the year and all that's left is for van Ginkel to agree to the move. One would suspect that this will not be a difficult sell, since we know he's after playing time -- the clubs coming to an agreement, if true, is a far bigger deal. Why? Because it leaves Chelsea desperately light in midfield.

Jose Mourinho would be left with Nemanja Matic, John Obi Mikel, Cesc Fabregas and Ramires as pivot-capable players in a post-van Ginkel squad, which is obviously light, especially considering that Mikel will be missing for some of the winter thanks to the Africa Cup of Nations. It would be a major shock if a van Ginkel loan was not immediately followed up by a midfield signing of some sort.

What might Chelsea be thinking here?