Chelsea bid for Atletico center back, according to reports

According to Marca, Chelsea have put in a bid of €25 million for Atletico Madrid center back Joao Miranda. The Blues have been linked to Miranda quite a bit in recent months, as have Manchester United. The Brazilian-born defender has a release clause of  €30 million built into his current contract.

Marca aren't noted for being exceptionally accurate, but they do have a better track record with Madrid-based clubs than they do with clubs based outside of the Spanish capital. Because of that, I have no idea whether this report has any truth to it, or if it's just the typically lazy Spanish press fabricating a story to sell papers.

If the Blues did sign Miranda, he'd create a pretty healthy competition with Gary Cahill and John Terry for the two starting spots at Chelsea. That would make it awfully difficult for youngsters like Kurt Zouma and Andreas Christensen tough to come by minutes this fall.

The other problem associated with signing a guy like Miranda is the international roster spot he'd require. The Blues are already in a situation where at least one player is going to have to be sold or left out of the squad, and the signing of Miranda would presumably force another move. None of the other center backs on the current roster occupy an international spot, so anybody moved to create space for Miranda would have to come from another area of the squad.

Given that roster situation, I'd just as soon see Chelsea pass on Miranda, despite how good he's been for the past several seasons. I won't be too upset if we end up signing him though, especially if that leads to Romelu Lukaku remaining with the squad at the expense of Fernando Torres.