A random transfer rumor to get out of the way before today’s festivities at the Bridge can begin, with the Mail linking Chelsea with 20-year-old CSKA Moscow attacking midfielder Aleksandr Golovin. Golovin is apparently pretty good and was one of the 40 nominees for this season’s Golden Boy award, which was eventually won by Bayern’s Renato Sanches.
Chelsea eye £20m CSKA star Golovin to bolster Champions League squad https://t.co/ULv98MStjF
— MailOnline Sport (@MailSport) May 20, 2017
There’s not much detail beyond just the link itself in the report, which does claim that Golovin would be “good value for the money”, which seems laughable considering Chelsea’s academy is stocked with plenty of promising talent of a similar age. That said, given Abramovich’s links with Russian football, if Golovin is looking to drum up interest for a big-money move to a top European division, despite just signing a new five-year deal in December, then starting with a Chelsea rumor is a good way to get the ball rolling.
Golovin has been capped 10 times by the Russian national team (including at Euro 2016 when Roman’s friend Leonid Slutsky was their coach) and has been a starter at CSKA for most of the last two seasons (including when Roman’s friend Leonid Slutsky was their coach).
"In the Russia national team, I care about Golovin more than the rest. Not because he is from CSKA, but because he is the youngest of them. And you saw what happened [he scored twice in three senior games] – with statistics like that, you can leave the national team with your head held high.”
-Lenoid Slutsky; source: UEFA, Apr 2016
The self-described playmaker, who apparently considers Mesut Özil one of his idols, is probably ready for a bigger stage than the Russian Premier League, but at this point there’s little reason to think that would be at Chelsea ... though you never truly know for sure in football. Chelsea will need to freshen up the attacking midfield corps at some point soon, with Eden Hazard the youngest regular at 26 and the rest pushing 30. And chances are, we aren’t just going to fill those positions with Academy graduates...