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Although the focus on Chelsea’s transfer business has been on what they have brought into their senior ranks, they have also been targeting talented younger players.
Already this summer Gabriel Slonina, Cesare Casadei and Carney Chukwuemeka, all of whom are 18 years old, have joined the club for a combined fee of £37 million.
And it appears that they have not yet completed their shopping in the youth market, with a bid now submitted for Dinamo Moscow midfielder Arsen Zakharyan.
The 19 year old’s agent have confirmed that the Russian club have received a bid of £12.7 million for him, and that a deal is close.
Despite his tender years, Zakharyan has represented Russia at every age group and has already four senior caps to his name.
Given though the current political situation, the optics of Chelsea signing a Russian player could potentially provoke a backlash and he might struggle to obtain a UK work permit.
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.