Chelsea are reportedly planning to make a move to sign Barcelona midfielder Marc Casado in January TEAMtalk.
After beating the Blaugrana and putting in an impressive performance against Arsenal despite being down a man last month, many believed the Blues could challenge on all fronts this season.
However, having failed to win their last three games in all competitions, losing twice, they are currently out of the conversation to win the Premier League title. They are fifth in the table with 25 points from fifteen games and are eight points behind leaders Arsenal.
On the other hand, after losing to Atalanta in the Champions League, the West London club is currently out of the top eight.
In the meantime, with the January window just around the corner, Chelsea plan to remain active in signing more new faces. TEAMtalk claim that despite already having Moisés Caicedo, Enzo Fernández, Romeo Lavia, Dario Essugo and Andrey Santos as options for the midfield department, Chelsea are planning to add further depth to this area.
The reason behind this is that Lavia continues to suffer from fitness problems, while Essugo has been out injured since the start of this season. As a result, Enzo Maresca has been forced to deploy Malo Gusto and Reece James in midfield to provide cover.
Married to Chelsea
Chelsea have identified Casado, worth around £26m Transfer marketas a serious target as they believe the 22-year-old would be an ideal option to play in Maresca’s possession-based system.
The Spaniard has struggled to find regular game time for Barcelona so far this season due to the presence of Pedri and Frenkie de Jong, while Hansi Flick has deployed Eric Garcia in the engine room ahead of Casado.
Furthermore, Gavi, Fermin Lopez, Marc Bernal and Dani Olmo are the options the Blaugrana have for this position. So Chelsea closely monitored his situation before making a potential move.
According to the report, Hansi Flick does not want to weaken his team mid-season, so he wants to keep Casado. However, Casado could be open to leaving to play regularly, which would give Chelsea the encouragement to secure his service next month.
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