Everton and West Ham are preparing to compete for a £30 million striker after Chelsea inflicted a transfer blow.
All of the latest Premier League transfer gossip, as Chelsea miss out on a Norwegian youngster and a slew of Premier League clubs eye a Ligue 1 striker.
Chelsea appear to be struggling for goals this season – once again – so Blues fans might not want to hear what Fabrizio Romano had to say about a summer signing that could have provided them a lot more punch up front.
In his Caught Offside column, the Twitter transfer guru suggested that Chelsea had made an attempt to sign 18-year-old wonderkid Antonio Nusa from Club Brugge, and given that the wizardly little left winger, unimaginatively dubbed “The Norwegian Messi” by people who aren’t very good at coming up with nicknames, has already scored a few fabulous goals for club and country this season as well as picking up two assists at the weekend, it’s starting to look like
To be fair, it appears that the player opted to stay in Belgium for another year, however the kind of contract offers Todd Boehly likes to make suggest that they could have changed his mind if they’d put their back into it. They are reportedly one of “four or five” clubs interested in signing him next summer, a number that will climb if he continues to perform as well as he has recently.
The 3AM Verdict: We shouldn’t wish him life as the newest player to be locked within Stamford Bridge’s wide forward holding cell on Nusa, but he’s already a hell of a player and one who looks certain to be among the best in the world in a few years. When the opportunity arises again, they would be wise to work a little harder to complete this one. According to some reports, Nusa would have cost roughly £23 million, which is likely a lot less than it will be in a few years.
City’s Divine inspiration
Speaking of Premier League big boys snatching up youthful talent, Manchester City have reportedly negotiated a long-term contract with West Ham United to transfer England Under-17 international Divine Mukasa to the Etihad.
Fabrizio has the inside scoop on this one once more, albeit this time in his natural social media setting, and Mukasa’s signing is expected to be finalized and revealed within the next 48 hours. Romano’s story even includes a shaky photoshopped image of the midfielder, who turned 16 only a few months ago, in a City kit, an essential component of every transfer rumors in this day and age.
The 3AM Verdict: We can’t really pass judgment on Mukasa because he hasn’t played a senior game and won’t for at least a year or two – but it will be somewhat frustrating for West Ham fans that their academy, which has always had an exceptional reputation, is now losing players to Premier League rivals. As if losing 3-1 to Manchester City wasn’t horrible enough.
