Footie Central | Football Blog Blogging the football world
Football Italia reports that Roma defender Emerson Palmieri is set to seal a move to Chelsea, with a fee of €25 million (£22 million) agreed between the two clubs.
Although the structure of the deal has yet to be finalised, negotiations are progressing smoothly, and the left-back is reportedly on standby ready to fly out to London.
Palmieri has been identified by Chelsea manager Antonio Conte as back-up to Marcus Alonso, who has played in every Premier League game for the club this season, and is the only recognised left-back in their squad.
23-year old Palmieri was born in Brazil and made his name originally with Santos before loan moves to Palermo and Roma, with the move to the Italian capital converted into a permanent move in December 2016.
Despite representing Brazil at under-17 level, Plamieri has since acquired Italian citizenship, which means that Chelsea face no work permit issues over his transfer.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.