Lille ‘preparing’ €40m offer for Chelsea striker — report

The transfer rumor mill doesn’t mess around. Two poor performances and you’re back in the firing line, at least as far as France Football can be believed. They claim that Lille, former home of the artist known as Eden Hazard, are “preparing” a €40m bid for Michy Batshuayi.

Michy had a good final few games of last season and had continued that form into preseason, but has failed to impress on either of his two competitive starts, against Arsenal in the Community Shield, when he did alright, and against Burnley in the Premier League, when he did not (as he himself admitted afterwards). Morata meanwhile is making an impact, even if he did miss that early sitter on Sunday.

According to the report, Lille were interested in Batshuayi in January already, but surely Chelsea aren’t ready to cut their losses on Michy just yet. He may not have played much last year, but he did improve and Conte appears to trust him more already this season than last. And while a loan could be a possibility, just to guarantee him more playing time, Chelsea’s expanded schedule should have plenty of opportunities for rotation. Also, Chelsea do not have another viable striker on the books at the moment — no, Loic Remy does not count — so unless we end up signing Llorente (or there’s anything to the recently resurrected Aubameyang and Belotti rumors), letting Michy leave, on loan or permanently, would be a terrible idea.

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