Chelsea have reportedly agreed personal terms with Cagliari’s Nicolo Barella and Zenit St Petersburg’s Leandro Paredes, although they have yet to decide as to which midfielder to pursue this month.
Blues boss Maurizio Sarri has recently confirmed that the club are in trouble after the departure of Cesc Fabregas to AS Monaco and he is widely expected to recruit a midfielder with strong passing attributes.
According to The Telegraph, the west London side have already finalised terms with both Barella and Paredes and they are now expected to decide on which player to sign or whether they require another midfielder at all.
At present, the Blues have six midfielders in N’Golo Kante, Jorginho, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Ross Barkley, Mateo Kovacic and Danny Drinkwater but the latter has been excluded from the manager’s first team plans this term.
Still, Sarri has at least two options from the bench in the 4-3-3 setup, although he is said to want more depth within the squad with the club still alive across all four competitions.
Between Barella and Paredes, the latter appears the more likelier to join the club this month after the recent transfer hint on social media, though the final decision has to be taken by the Blues hierarchy.
Barella is currently rated in the region of £45m while Paredes, who is more experienced at the professional level, is rated at around £30m. Both players have already represented their respective national teams at the senior level.
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