The transfer news keeps on swirling ahead of the January window opening, as Erling Haaland to Chelsea and Vinicius to Arsenal are a few of the latest reports.
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Let’s dig into those rumors.
Erling Haaland to Chelsea is an intriguing report from our partners at Sky Sports in Italy as they claim that the Blues are willing to offload up to seven current first team players to bring in the Borussia Dortmund striker and West Ham’s Declan Rice in the summer.
We know about Frank Lampard’s love for Rice, but Chelsea’s interest in Haaland is a new one as Manchester City and Manchester United appeared to be the frontrunners for the prolific Norwegian striker.
Haaland, 20, reportedly has a release clause in his contract at the end of the 2020-21 season which means he can be bought for $90 million.
Would Haaland at Chelsea work?
That seems like a bargain given the goals he almost guarantees, and given the fact that Chelsea will likely move on from Olivier Giroud, and Tammy Abraham is a back-up option at this point, Lampard will likely want a new targetman for his wealth of attacking midfielders and wingers to feed off.
Timo Werner is better when playing off a central striker instead of leading the line, while Kai Havertz hasn’t settled in well in the Premier League. Haaland has connections to Manchester City through his father, Alfe Inge, he played for them in the Premier League and with Sergio Aguero coming towards the end of his career, surely City would be the favorites to sign him.
Still, Chelsea have joined the race and you could argue that all of their young, exciting attacking talents may make a move to Stamford Bridge more appealing for Haaland. Chelsea would surely be ahead of Manchester United, as the latter aren’t keen on doing business with Haaland’s agent, Mino Raiola, due to the ongoing situation around Paul Pogba.
As for the seven players Chelsea want to move on to fund the moves for Haaland, and Rice, they are: Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen, Jorginho, Marcos Alonso, Ross Barkley, Danny Drinkwater and Victor Moses. Aside from Jorginho, no surprises there, right?
Vinicius to Arsenal a good idea?
A Brazilian player linked with a move to Arsenal? Hmm. I wonder who could be involved in this one… Arsenal sporting director Edu, we are looking at you.
Real Madrid youngster Vinicius Jr is a loan target for Arsenal in January, according to the Daily Star.
The 20-year-old forward has struggled for minutes this season under Zinedine Zidane and it is believed he will be available in January. Arsenal previously attempted to sign Vinicius and are said to have close ties with his agency, who also represent their young Brazilian forward Gabriel Martinelli.
The report states that Mesut Ozil, Sokratis and William Saliba will all be allowed to leave Arsenal in January. The first two on permanent deals and Saliba on another loan, as Arteta tries to improve his squad and he reportedly has the backing of the Arsenal board.
Vinicius would give them an extra option in attack but they already have a bunch of talented attackers who can’t score enough goals or create enough chances. Is all of that down to the individuals or the style of play Arteta is demanding? Probably a bit of both.
There’s no doubting that Vinicius is a quality player and a loan move for Dani Ceballos from Real Madrid worked out well, initially. With Arsenal in 15th place in the Premier League table, they certainly need something different for the second half of the season.
