Footie Central | Football Blog Blogging the football world
Chelsea will not exercise their option to sign midfielder Saúl Ñíguez on a permanent basis.
The 26-year old signed from Atlético Madrid on a season-long loan on transfer deadline day, but has struggled to make any impression so far in West London.
He has only made three appearances for the West London side so far, and given his option cluse is set at £34 million, they have not seen enough to convince them that such #n outlay could be justified.
Instead, it seems certain that Saúl will be headed back to Madrid at the end of the season, where he had struggled for game time under Diego Simeone.
One reason for Chelsea’s reticence is that they continued to be linked with a move for Marcelo Brozović of Inter Milan, a long-term target, whose won contract at the San Siro is in in its final year.
The Blues are willing to make him an attractive offer to move to Stamford Bridge on a free 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.