Chelsea interested in ’unsellable’ Rugani, according to Italian media

Chelsea have apparently made an offer of around €30 million for Juventus centre-back Daniele Rugani, if dubious reports emerging from Italian media are to be believed. But there is a picture!

CalcioMercato, who apparently know exactly what the agenda is, have gone as far as to claim that a meeting between the player’s agent, Davide Torchia and Fabio Paratici, Sporting Director of Juventus, is currently ongoing at Milan’s Palazzo Parigi to discuss what should be done regarding the future of the young defender.

Yesterday, our friendly neighbourhood Italian journalist, Alfredo Pedulla provided an update regarding Maurizio Sarri’s preference to shore up the Chelsea defence with centre backs, namely Raúl Albiol, Daniele Rugani or Kostas Manolas, should the possibility of Chelsea hiring him to replace Antonio Conte actually became a reality.

Pedulla of course picked up on this meeting between Juventus and the agent of one of their own players, too.

That said, none of this makes much sense at the moment. Sarri is not Chelsea manager yet, if he’ll ever be, so Chelsea going after one of his supposed targets is a bit premature — especially as the club have shown zero actual urgency in the transfer market so far.

Connecting future managers with future signings whom they might have worked with before is a favorite past time of the rumor mill, too.

And then there is the fact that just a few days ago, Rugani’s agent made it very clear that the “unsellable“ 23-year-old defender’s future is with Juventus.

“It’s been a very positive season for Daniele. He’s played more than 1000 minutes in the league and made 26 appearances [in all competitions] including 25 as a starter. That’s something that should be emphasised, because there’s a lot of rotation at Juventus. It’s a nice improvement compared to the previous season, there are margins to be able to do better next year.

“At Juventus it’s not enough just to be a good defender, you always have to do more. Playing it forward quickly is something Daniele is working on, as well as launching attacks and changes on the pitch. He’s at a good level, but there are margins to improve further.

“Juventus have always considered him unsellable an have never considered selling him. The club are very satisfied, they have great respect for the lad and don’t want to deprive themselves of his football qualities.”

- Davide Torchia; source: TuttoJuve via Football Italia

Rugani may be a very good, young player with or without Sarri. But let‘s not get ahead of ourselves. There’s little reason to think Juventus would want to sell their best young defender, especially as many of their usual stalwarts are on the wrong side of 30 and not getting any younger.

That said, if (and when?) Sarri does arrive at Chelsea, this rumor probably will gain more traction. The fact that Rugani has played under Sarri at Empoli, racking up over 3000 minutes in each of his two seasons under him (3578 minutes in Serie B in 13/14 and 3240 minutes in Serie A in 14/15) and understands his system would be a big plus.

Oh, and here’s Pedulla essentially debunking his own rumor. Ah, Silly Season.