Bayer Leverkusen more than happy to say ‘no’ to Chelsea, other big teams over 20-year-old — report

The winter transfer window has yet to actually open, but Chelsea are already ‘set to fail’ in one our supposed pursuits. According to the London Evening Standard, the Blues will not be able to acquire winger Leon Bailey from Bundesliga club Bayer Leverkusen.

Who?

Jamaica-born Bailey was actually first linked with Chelsea way back in July of 2015, when he was playing in Slovakia of all places. It was a convoluted enough situation with shady arrangements and plenty of smoke and mirrors that when he ended up joining Genk instead, nobody really batted an eyelid. Fast-forward two and a half years, and he’s apparently worth north of £20 million, though in today’s market that’s almost nothing.

Bailey traded the Belgian first division for the German one last summer and he’s been one of Bayer Leverkusen’s standout players ever since. Considering that he joined just six months ago and that his valuation at 20 years of age is only set to rise, it’s wholly unsurprising that Bayer aren’t motivated to sell him anytime soon.

But we’re set to fail, which certainly makes for a good headline.

“We have proven many times that we can say ‘no’. We are very relaxed."

-Rudi Voller, Bayer Leverkusen director; Source: London Evening Standard

According to the same report, Chelsea remain interested AS Monaco's Thomas Lemar (and his outrageous £80 million rumored fee) and Everton's Ross Barkley (a rumor which has yet to inspire us to even a shred of excitement).

Chelsea have been quiet in January windows ever since dropping £50 million on Fernando Torres in 2011, and we shouldn’t expect that to change even if there are a couple improvements in quality and depth that the squad could use.