Davide Zappacosta’s agent holding exit talks with Chelsea — report

After just 17 appearances in all competitions last season, Davide Zappacosta’s future at Chelsea was very much up in the air, and that’s before he barely featured in preseason, with first-choice right-back Cesar Azpilicueta leading all players in total minutes played and Chelsea planning to use Academy standout Reece James as the backup instead (as soon as he recovers from his ankle injury).

Earlier this year in January, Zappacosta was firmly linked with a move to Serie A club Lazio but that notion gradually petered out. Zappacosta has reportedly remained open to a move back to Italy this summer as well, sensing a continuing lack of significant gametime for him at Stamford Bridge. Today, reports in Italy have him on AS Roma’s radar, with TuttoMercatoWeb going as far as to claim that Zappacosta’s agent, Alessandro Lucci has held talks with Chelsea director Marina Granovskaia regarding a potential transfer. In addition to Roma, La Liga side Sevilla are also in the picture. Zappacosta just has to make a choice, and apparently the deal will be struck shortly thereafter.

Since transfer windows around Europe will close well after the Premier League’s, Chelsea do have some time to figure all this out. We might even be waiting to see how well Reece James is progressing in his rehab before sanctioning a deal for Zappacosta.