Elseid Hysaj agent keeping Chelsea option open for next summer

Before we had Sarri, before we ditched Conte, there was Elseid Hysaj.

The Napoli right-back was a target of Chelsea’s affections in the summer, so much so that there were reports that Napoli had beaten back a £37m offer in June and were demanding “at least” £53m.

With Sarri’s 4-3-3 on the horizon and Chelsea’s full-back options not looking terribly strong, it was natural that Chelsea would be poking around for a new player. That all ended, though, when Chelsea’s deal with Aurelio De Laurentiis included Maurizio Sarri, Jorginho — and a ban on buying any more Napoli players.

So that seemingly ended that for Hysaj.

Or did it?

His agent, Mario Giuffredi, doesn’t seem to think so. He’s looking at negotiating a new contract for the 24-year-old and he doesn’t share De Laurentiis’ resistance to any more deals with Chelsea. He told SportItalia (via Calciomercato) that he wants a release clause which doesn’t shut us out. He accepts what happened this summer but he doesn’t want a repeat.

“Napoli disappointment? No, Napoli did what they had to do, keeping all the big names. Not doing much does not mean having a big market, sometimes the best market is to confirm your valuable pieces if you believe in your team. If then the best market for you is to change the whole team, I do not share it.

“Ban in Chelsea on the clauses? I do not agree with it, I also told De Laurentiis the same. If there are clauses in the contracts they must be able to be exercised. In the coming weeks we will address the Hysaj talk for renewal, we had talked about it before the market. Then there was a talk with Chelsea and we stopped.”

-Mario Giuffredi; source: SportItalia via Calciomercato

Chelsea are likely to be interested again next summer, as long as the release clause isn’t prohibitive. Our cadre of full-backs is still in need of reinforcement, Hysaj will only be 25 years old and until this season with Carlo Ancelotti, he’d only ever worked for Sarri.

So, dead but not dead. Undead?