Chelsea have been given a boost in their attempts to sign players in January. Jude Bellingham, Rafael Leao, Josko Gvardiol and Enzo Fernandez are all targets heading into 2023 and one of the key players at the world football table has stepped away.
Real Madrid always tend to dominate the room when it comes to buying players. The era of Galacticos may be over in all but name, but Los Blancos still make their fair share of big moves. Over the past two years they have brought in Aurelien Tchouameni and Eduardo Camavinga to energise their ageing midfield.
The plan has been to eventually end up with Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland too, a dangerous future of European football to avoid. For Chelsea. though, there is an immediate benefit to the club's latest actions.
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Manager Carlo Ancelotti, the four time Champions League winner, has ruled his side out of making any new additions in January, essentially leaving the coast a little clearer for Todd Boehly's ambitious Chelsea side to manouvre.
The Italian said: "We don’t need signings in January, our market is closed - then for departures we will see with some players. We signed Endrick, top talent. I saw him last year and we talked a bit, he’ll join in 2024. We are happy and excited at the club."
Endrick himself won't join until 2024 when he turns 18 and can move from Brazil to Europe and also represents a major victory in the market for the European champions. They managed to heed off competition from Chelsea along with Paris Saint-Germain for the youngster's signature.
As one of the hottest prospects around it was quite a coup but perhaps not too surprising given the Brazilian contigent already there with Vinicius Jr, Rodrygo and Eder Militao. Chelsea can make the most of their absence in pursuing other players though. Bellingham is set to be at the centre of a mass bidding war in 2023 and Madrid will be in and amongst the teams setting the price.
With them supposedly out of the equation for now it could be a chance to get to Bellingham first. Although it is unlikely that he will move in January - almost impossible - it doesn't stop Chelsea getting the upper hand and making progress. The same can be said for Leao, who Madrid wish to add to their frontline, and Fernandez or Gvardiol as part of the new-look Blues squad.
It may only be a small opening and a month in which large scale business is irregular but Chelsea won't get many better opportunities to stamp their name on those that they want to sign.
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