Chelsea have joined Arsenal and Roma in the race for exciting Bayer Leverkusen attacker Leon Bailey, according to the Sun.
The newspaper claims that the Italian giants have entered the fray having missed out on Bordeaux star Malcolm, who was snatched from under their noses by Barcelona this week.
Barcelona’s pursuit of Malcolm was a direct result of Chelsea setting a £70million price tag for Willian that the Spanish champions were not willing to meet.
The Mirror reported earlier this year that Bailey is valued at £100million by Bayer Leverkusen.
The Jamaican scored 12 goals and registered six assists in 34 games for Heiko Herrlich’s side last season.
Good move for Chelsea and Arsenal?
A winger is one of the few positions of need that Arsenal haven’t addressed so far this summer, so it makes sense for them to be linked with someone of Bailey’s quality. Chelsea, on the other hand, seem to be keeping Willian now, as well as having Pedro, Eden Hazard and Victor Moses on the books. Any purchase of Bailey would be an investment in the future, as well as being good business in the short-term, as at just 20 years of age the Jamaican’s best days are still ahead of him. Roma’s interest complicates things, with the Italians surely keen to complete a deal as quickly as possible following the Malcolm mishap. This one seems to make sense for Arsenal and Roma, not so much for the Blues.
This is Futbol rating: 5/10
Likely to happen?
With this many teams interested it’s likely Bailey will be on the move somewhere this summer, but whether that’s England remains to be seen. Roma are surely the most motivated of the trio to get this deal done, so that could end up being the player’s destination.
This is Futbol rating: 4/10