The Batshuayi and Llorente rumors continue trending in a concerning way, with the latest coming from Belgian journalist Kristof Terreur.
Chelsea haven't told Michy Batshuayi that he can leave on loan (as yet). Club rather want him to stay. #cfc pic.twitter.com/zUmv2NdWY3
— Kristof Terreur (@HLNinEngeland) January 9, 2017
On the plus side, Terreur, writing for HLN, says that Chelsea have not told Batshuayi that he should leave. But that’s largely because Conte wants to continue working with him and helping him improve as opposed to any grand designs on important minutes. Apparently, Michy’s showing against Peterborough hasn’t really done much to convince and Conte remains concerned by the 23-year-old’s slow progress, both tactically and mentally. And physically. Given Batshuayi’s size and strength, that latter concern seems especially troubling.
Taking into account the above, the continuing Fernando Llorente rumors start to fall into place. While Swansea are understandably reluctant, according to Terreur, Chelsea have now actually made contact with the Swans about a potential deal. Previous rumors, which were already talking up a possible swap deal even, did point out that no actual contact had been made. But now that initial step is apparently done.
Batshuayi himself is understood to not be keen on Swansea at all, but could possibly be convinced to go help West Ham instead for the rest of the season.
While most of this still sounds rather unlikely, the report’s details paint a worrying picture about Batshuayi’s current Chelsea prospects. And by current I mean the rest of this season. Batshuayi presumably will have a nice, long, successful future with Chelsea, but it might take him a bit longer yet to get it all going...
(h/t: Anomandoris)