Chelsea lodge bid for young midfield star, according to reports

Chelsea have been linked with Red Star Belgrade midfielder Marko Grujic before, but on Wednesday, reports have emerged in Italy suggesting that the Blues have already lodged a bid for the player. According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Chelsea are willing to pay a sum of about 4 million for young Serbian star, who would almost certainly spend his first few seasons as a member of the Blues touring Europe on loan.

The Italian paper claims that Grujic is one of several midfielders that Inter Milan are looking at, in addition to Manchester City NYCFC playmaker Andrea Pirlo.

Typically, when Chelsea sign loan army additions in January, they allow those players to remain with their clubs for the remainder of the campaign, before moving them to Vitesse Arnhem (or another continental club) in the summer. I'd have to think this would be the case with Grujic, which would probably make it even more difficult for Inter to tempt Red Star into accepting their bid over Chelsea's in January, though there are always questions with the Italian press about the amount of liberties taken with the information they've received.

Regardless, when we see the Blues repeatedly linked to an up and coming player, it's usually worth watching that player closely, as Chelsea typically wind up closing the deal. Grujic will be one to watch closely come January.