Chelsea set sights on young Italian defender - report

Alongside the rumors that Antonio Conte is getting closer and closer to agreeing a deal to become the next Chelsea manager, rumours of Chelsea being interested in various, mostly Italian-based players are also gathering steam. Buy ALL the Italians!  The latest, according to Calciomercato, is that Chelsea are one of the clubs who have AC Milan defender Alessio Romagnoli in their sights.

The report claims that even though Romagnoli arrived at Milan earlier this season for €25 million plus bonuses, clubs such as Chelsea, Barcelona and Bayern Munich are already interested in his services. In Chelsea's case, the club are in dire need of defensive reinforcements and have already set aside £30 million to invest on the player.  Milan have tied the 21-year-old Romagnoli to a five-year contract upon his arrival and they certainly won't let go of the player for cheap.

While Calciomercato is far from a reliable source, Romagnoli as a transfer target would make sense since he's a young and promising prospect and he's Italian so he must be good at defending, right?  That said, if we're going to break the bank for a promising defender at some point in the next transfer window, we should probably do so for a home-grown prospect such as John Stones, even if his showings this season have not been without criticism.