Growing speculations around Stamford Bridge suggests that Diego Costa and Nemanja Matic would be heading out of the exit door posing further problems for the incoming boss Antonio Conte.
While Costa is linked with his former club Atletico Madrid, Matic however is tipped to join hands with Jose Mourinho at Manchester United next season. Back in 2014/15 when Chelsea were crowned the Premier League Champions, both Costa and Matic were key figures for the Blues.
Needless to say Conte will need to replace them with equal or even better quality.
According to the reports from Calciomercato Conte is keen to sign Gonzalo Higuain and Radja Nainggolan this summer to kick-start his Chelsea revolution. However, the same reports suggest that Chelsea’s first bid for both players have been rejected as it fell short of the estimated valuation.
According to Football Italia, Higuain is priced in the £50million bracket while Nainggolan would only leave for anything in the region of £35million. Regardless of whether Costa or Matic leave this summer, Blues must do their all to complete this £85million combined signing of Higuain and Nainggolan.
At present, Chelsea’s spine looks pretty fragile and given their horrendous 2015/16 season, they will find it very tough to replicate their Championship winning performance from two year ago. Football is all about momentum which is sorely lacking at Chelsea at the moment.
Perhaps the only way is to bring fresh faces at the club and a different approach which will come from Antonio Conte. On the face of it, both Higuain and Nainggolan are kind of players who will suit Chelsea’s and Conte’s style of play.
While Higuain is an out-and-out goal scorer who feeds on balls from wide areas and playmakers, Nainggolan is a tenacious tackler who loves to take charge from midfield. Conte would need both of these qualities to be the key platform to bring Chelsea back amongst the Premier League elites.
He will face competition from the likes of Manchester United and Real Madrid, however, Blues need these players more than any other team in Europe. While United and Real Madrid have been linked with other players as well, but Chelsea have pinned all their hopes on Higuain and Nainggolan to bring the club out of their miserable 2015/16 season horrors.
Needless to say, Chelsea’s season could hinge upon the success or failure of this £85million transfer saga which is expected to go deep in to the summer transfer window as we approach a quite fanatic Premier League 2016/17 season.