Chelsea ‘target’ Abdoulaye Doucoure in ‘shock swoop’ — report

Just a few days ago, word came down from the usual Chelsea sources that Chelsea were just about done in the transfer market this month, certainly as far as adding new pieces to the first-team squad was concerned. The Blues passed on (were priced well out of) Leandro Paredes as the replacement for Cesc Fabregas, and were supposedly set to use in-house options (Kovacic) or the youth (Ampadu) to make up for the loss of Magic Hat as the backup to Jorginho (who doesn’t have a complimentary nickname just yet).

But that was before Chelsea collapsed at Bournemouth. Could the historic 4-0 defeat prompt the club into panic drastic action in the transfer market?

That’s what the Mirror’s Darren Lewis is banking on in his “exclusive” about Chelsea targeting Watford midfielder Abdoulaye Doucoure in a “shock Transfer Deadline Day swoop”.

In fairness, Doucoure checks a lot of Chelsea boxes: he’s injured, he’s overpriced, he’s scored against us, and he’d be unlikely to play a lot even though he excelled at a mid-table team and thus would do the job that could also just be handed to an academy player.

Welcome, Abdoulaye!