Chelsea may not have had to sign a new midfielder in the form of Aurelien Tchouameni this summer if they could have got their hands on Swedish youngster Hugo Larsson who is flourishing currently in Malmo.
The Swedish outfit have played the Blues on a few occasions including in this year's Champions League group stages whereby the current European and World Champions completed the clean sweep of six points. The two also faced off during the season that Maurizio Sarri won his first trophy as a manager in the Europa League and unsurprisingly, the west London outfit who had Eden Hazard in their ranks at the time, picked up two wins in their knockout games that season.
Usually, you wouldn't associate the Blues scouting network looking into the Scandinavian market but one Malmo player in particular pricked up the ears of the European giants who are always looking to bolster their impressive Cobham factory with new editions. Dylan Williams completed a mid-season switch from Championship side Derby County as experts at Cobham believe he could be a long-term heir to Ben Chilwell or Marcos Alonso in the future.
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Swedish outlet Expressen report that the Blues recently made an approach for Larsson. This certain outlet label the 17-year-old as ‘one of Sweden’s most promising talents' who has made progress in the last year or so.
After captaining the Malmö U17 side, he was promoted to their U19 side last summer. This allowed the midfielder to feature in the UEFA Youth Cup this season, where he made six appearances. His decision has seemed to benefit himself in his development as shown by his continued game time in the first time that culminated in a bench appearance in the IF Elfsborg draw on Monday.
One club's gain is another's loss and Chelsea failed in their quest to add the right-footed player who is certainly one for the future to their ever-successful Cobham conveyor belt meaning other European heavyweights will now have a chance to scout Larsson. “It’s clear that it was a great experience to go and play with Chelsea. I trained with the team and also got to go to a tournament in Belgium. I also scored a goal there,” he said after Monday's draw via Sport Witness.
“It [Chelsea move] was a little too early. For me, it was better to continue my development at home, at Malmö. I want to break through at MFF [Malmö] first before I go abroad.”
The report also adds that Chelsea are Larsson’s ‘favourite club’, meaning a deal could yet be done in the future. When that will be however, seems to be up to Larsson.
