'There is absolutely no way PSG would sell Marco Verratti to Chelsea'

Suddenly, the January transfer window is promising to be a rather outrageous affair already, despite our best intentions, thanks to Shanghai SIPG's ridiculous £60m offer for young Oscar.  It's quite literally an offer we can't refuse, just as the the offer of £400k net wages per week is an offer that Oscar simply cannot refuse.  After all, he's about to make the same amount in one year in China that he had made so far in his four years at Chelsea!

None of this is official, but the way everyone's talking about it, from the media to the coaches, it might as well be.  Which then leaves the question of what Chelsea might do with the £60m and, more pertinently, how we would fill the hole left behind in the depth chart.

One player who could prove a solution to both questions is PSG's Marco Verratti.  Trouble is, of course, that acquiring Verratti isn't going to be easy, if even possible.  Here's the Telegraph's Jason Burt for example with some heavy does of reality.

I'm told there is absolutely no way PSG would sell Marco Verratti to Chelsea even if they received a huge bid in January.

— Jason Burt (@JBurtTelegraph) December 16, 2016

Reports earlier claimed that Chelsea would be making Verratti the top priority for January, but that always seemed a bit too hopeful and far-fetched, especially at just £40m, which really isn't nearly as much as it seems in today's market.  Buying any top player from any top team in January is an unlikely proposition, let alone an important player who has over four years left on his contract at one of the richest teams in the world.

"He is very important. He is a player with many qualities. He brings quality to the team and his team-mates. There are not a lot of players who play like him. He is one of the most important players at PSG. He has many qualities, he plays with heart and he has a positive state of mind regarding the competition and rivalry. He is exigent and effective."

"When you are his manager, coaching him is easy. You like coaching a player like him. He wants to play every day. Every day he says that he is OK. He is always ready for the team. It is important for the team. When he is on the pitch, the team perform much better."

-Unai Emery, PSG head coach; source: FourFourTwo

So maybe in the summer?