It`s been a quiet day in social-media-tittle-tattle-land, as all of Chelsea`s focus is on getting the two Roma deals over the line.
It seems almost certain that Antonio Conte`s beleaguered Chelsea squad is soon to be boosted with the arrival of Emerson Palmieri, who, it seems, is as good as signed and his teammate Edin Dzeko who is not far behind him.
These two, plus the already signed Ross Barkley make for a decent January transfer window for the club so often ridiculed for their dealings.
All those nonsense stories about Andy Carroll, Peter Crouch etc were just laughable fabrications of someone`s overactive keyboard. There`s never been any indication from anyone at Chelsea FC that these deals were ever going to be sanctioned by the club. It`s just, yet another example of the media trying to undermine the club.
Meanwhile, one deal that has been completed is that of ‘agent` Kenedy, who has gone off on loan to Newcastle United for the remainder of the season. His mission is to try and score and create against any of our rival teams whenever he gets the chance. He`ll soon be back at the Bridge though, Rafa Benitez brings the Magpies down for the FA Cup 4th round tie on Sunday lunchtime. Kenedy won`t be able to play though, as, not only is he cup-tied but he wouldn`t be allowed to play against his parent club. He`ll be more than welcome to watch his new team get beaten though.
Getting back to the only real story tonight, the latest on the Emerson and Dzeko deals. With Kenedy having been confirmed as gone, the understanding was that he would only be allowed to leave if a replacement could be signed. We have to assume that replacement is Emerson Palmieri.
The deal won`t be announced until the conclusion of the Edin Dzeko negotiations. Roma manager Eusebio Di Francesco has spoken ahead of sides trip to face Sampdoria tomorrow night. According to him, the Bosnian plays,
`As things stand at the moment, he will, yes. Obviously though I’m going to assess the player’s state of mind and talk to him about it. I haven’t done that yet because I wanted to let him get on with things, but I have to prepare for this game as well as I can and be able to count on him. I’ll take a decision together with the player. My view is that if he’s a Roma player he should play. If he’s our player, he can play, as long as you’ve weighed up all those other aspects.`
Any pictures of Dzeko travelling earlier today, were simply him heading to Genoa for tomorrow`s game, not him heading to London as was indicated. According to Simon Johnson the talks are still on-going,
#Dzeko update…still discussing wage demands and length of contract with #cfc. Been told at this stage, unlikely to be completed tonight.
? Simon Johnson (@sjstandardsport) January 23, 2018
Tomorrow we`ll hopefully get more of an indication, should he not make the Sampdoria game, then a move will be imminent. According to The Sun the deal will be done by Thursday.
It really has been a slow transfer news day today. Tomorrow we can look forward to Chelsea`s Carabao Cup semi-final against Arsenal. That`s all for tonight, back tomorrow at 10pm.