Premier League relegation candidates 'in strong position' to sign Chelsea's Loïc Rémy

As we surmised last week, Alexandre Pato's somewhat surreal arrival could have somewhat real knock-on effects on a few other members of the squad, chief amongst them backup striker Loïc Rémy.  Rémy, who's been a decent if mostly unspectacular backup in his 18 months as a Chelsea player, is supposedly looking for more consistent playing time; rumors of his exit have been swirling since at least the summer.  If Pato does come, it's not inconceivable that Rémy would be allowed to leave.

And so...

Newcastle United are in a strong position to sign Chelsea's Loic Remy after Crystal Palace cooled their interest in the France striker...

-source: ESPN

ESPN posits that Pato (or another suitable replacement) would have to be in the fold first, before we'd let Rémy domino his way out of the club.  Then again, with Diego Costa continually picking up knocks, maybe we'd be reluctant to rely on just one backup.

Both the incoming Pato and the outgoing Rémy transfers are supposedly six-month loans, so we could theoretically hit an undo button in the summer and go back to the status quo.  Rémy will have two more years left on his contract at the end of the current season.

One week left to sort it all out, though we'll probably wait until the final day just to make it a bit more interesting.