We may now be free from international football for a short while, but we're never free of transfer rumors. On this here fine Wednesday, we have a trio of juicy silliness to sink our teeth into. Two are familiar faces, one a long-time friend even, while a third is a fresh young entrant into the Chelsea rumor mill.
Starting with the one that may be most likely — still not very likely, but most likely of these three — though certainly not at the ridiculous sums mentioned, we have AC Milan's young center Alessio Romagnoli. Chelsea tried to make a pass at the 21-year-old in the summer, but that went nowhere fast. Maybe we'll have more luck in January?
Chelsea are set to return for #ACMilan defender Alessio Romagnoli, and will offer €50m for his services in January. [The Sun] pic.twitter.com/0KzhzI4MxE
— SempreMilan (@SempreMilanCom) October 12, 2016
The Sun seem to have developed an unhealthy obsession with Chelsea and Italian transfer rumors lately, but that doesn't make this one any more believable than the others. Outrageous price aside, with new financial backing on the way to Milan, they'd be utter fools to sell their promising, young, and already first-choice center back. Even for £50m.
One defender whose future path may not be so clearly set is Sergio Ramos, who's being linked with an exit from Real Madrid for the umpteenth time in the last decade. As usual, Chelsea are there to serve as the boogeyman, but more likely just as leverage for a new contract. So good luck with that, career Real-man.
Chelses are lining up a sensational move for Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos, according to reports. [DailyStar] pic.twitter.com/4iclKRBM2E
— Absolute Chelsea (@AbsoluteChelsea) October 11, 2016
The Star are just picking up what the Spanish tabloids are putting down, which makes this even more of a joke story than it normally ends up being.
Last but not least, we shift our attentions up front, where an Atlético Madrid attacker is waiting for us. No, it's not Antoine Griezmann, that's a story for another day or seven or twenty — we're no doubt going to have more than our fill of Griezmann rumors between now and the end of summer 2017. Instead, this one concerns his teammate, who nowadays goes by just Yannick Carrasco (he dropped the "Ferreira" last year).
ATLETICO MADRID are reportedly set to offer Yannick Carrasco an improved contract to see off interest from Chelsea. https://t.co/frc1lYYEiv
— Total Football EU (@TotalFootballEU) October 11, 2016
So just another contract renewal, extension, improvement story. Carrasco's buy-out is a decently low £35m at the moment, reportedly, and Atléti want to increase that a bit to continue warding off potential suitors. Chelsea's supposed interest could be over before it had even begun. OH NO WHATEVER ARE WE GOING TO DO...