Official: Real Madrid wing-back Danilo chooses Manchester City over Chelsea

Chelsea’s search for a new wing-back has taken a major blow today (and possibly a double blow) as Manchester City have confirmed and announced the signing of Danilo from Real Madrid. The 26-year-old joins on a five-year deal to be the backup to Kyle Walker.

The rumored transfer fee is north of €30m, which is well within Chelsea’s wheelhouse but it would appear that Danilo chose Pep’s project over Conte’s project even though one might surmise that he would have had a better chance of beating out converted wing-back Victor Moses than world record for a defender signing, £50m-man Kyle Walker for minutes.

“There has been strong interest from other Clubs, but it has always been my ambition to play for Pep Guardiola. As soon as I heard of his interest, I knew immediately I wanted to be a City player.”

-Danilo; source: Manchester City FC

Chelsea’s search thus turns to other targets, including Benjamin Mendy and Alex Sandro and perhaps a few as-yet unnamed candidates, though Mendy is likely to be the next major arrival at Manchester City pretty soon as well...