It’s been a rather quiet January as far as incoming transfers are concerned at Chelsea, with Blues news dominated by the sales of Oscar and Mikel and rumors of sales of Costa (again) and Courtois (again). Nathan Aké has been the only (semi-)significant arrival, returning from his loan at AFC Bournemouth to add depth to the squad (with possibly Musonda and Kenedy following in that vein). This isn’t necessarily a complaint and it fits well within the bounds of Conte’s “right players only” mantra.
Fortunately, there’s always Portugal and the Benfica pipeline to fall back on for some rumor mill action. According to A Bola, Chelsea have entered the race for right back Nelson Semedo, even though the 23-year-old recently reiterated his commitment to the team after rumors linked him with a move to Manchester United and Bayern Munich.
“You can rest easy. I'm completely focused on Benfica and I'm hoping to continue here for many years to come.”
-Nelson Semedo; source: Mail
Semedo, the “next Dani Alves” has been ever-present as the starting right back at Benfica this season. He’s on the outskirts of he Portuguese national team with one cap to his name so far.
Further reports in A Bola claim that Benfica president Luis Felipe Vieira is currently in London precisely due to Semedo’s future and is looking for around €40m for his player. Sounds a bit far-fetched (i.e. shopping around a player who’s been so key to them this season), but this being Benfica, I’m sure it’ll drag on for some time one way or another.
Here is a rather impressive highlights video, courtesy of the comments section.