Pep Guardiola may have handed Graham Potter the late Christmas present he was waiting for. With injuries piling up and an ever-growing January to-do list the Chelsea manager has been a lot on his mind before it even gets to the football itself.
The pressure was somewhat relieved after a 2-0 win over Bournemouth in the first match back after the World Cup but Reece James' injury dampened the atmosphere on the night. That not only added the immediate task of balancing the side but also finding an effective replacement in the market.
Chelsea have been running this risk for too long having failed to sign a back-up full-back to cover for James last summer. Cesar Azpilicueta deputises there but at 33 isn't close to offering the same output at either end of the pitch, let alone both.
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Some good news is that Manchester City aren't after a new full-back themselves, when Guardiola wants he usually gets so the Blues don't have to worry about the league champions as competition. City had been linked with three of Todd Boehly's top targets heading into the winter though.
Rafael Leao, who is out of contract in 2024 but hasn't come any closer to signing an extension and could leave for £77million in January, is on the list of Guardiola at the Etihad Stadium. Although Chelsea seem to have done more of the groundwork for this deal, there is an obvious lure towards a man of Guardiola's standing.
During the World Cup it was reported that Josko Gvardiol had been spoken to by the Spanish manager in a bid to persuade him to join City rather than Chelsea or Real Madrid, with the financial threat of blowing the Blues out of the water with a world record January bid for the 20-year-old there too.
As a lover of great midfielders there's also no surprise that Enzo Fernandez appeared on the radar of Guardiola too. The 21-year-old Argentine has been heavily linked with a move to Stamford Bridge after his breakout tournament in Qatar, but once again City are in the pack of sides also gunning for his signature.
Chelsea may have a one-window head start for all of these players though, with Guardiola admitting before his side played Leeds: "I think we're not going to sign any player in January, so we're going to finish this way."
Admittedly City do have Erling Haaland who, after 15 games, has scored more goals than Chelsea in the league. But the squad-wide revamp Potter is trying to oversee at Stamford Bridge could be given a major boost if two of the three targets could be secured. Even if deals aren't completed in January, there is a bonus to being active in trying to make a move happen and that could lend itself to benefiting Chelsea over the summer too.
"I don't know what's going to happen but since I arrived from Abu Dhabi, with Txiki Begiristain and everyone, there wasn't any name on the table," Guardiola added. Compared to Chelsea, who have everyone in world football on their shortlist as options, this is a conservative approach from Guardiola, but one that Boehly may well be glad to see.
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