Chelsea Plan January Move For High Rated Centre Back – Not Stones
Recent reports have come to light about how Chelsea came extremely close to snapping up Roma’s Konstantinos Manolas on deadline day. The aforementioned source claim that the Blues were initially poised to sign the Greek defender but changed their mind at the last minute and settled for Reading defender Michael Hector.
After a long summer of pursuing John Stones and failing to land him, the Blues were left with no other option than to scramble at the last minute for a series of alternative before later ending up signing Hector and Papy Djilobodji from Nantes.
Roma’s 24 year old Konstantinos Manolas who is also a long term target for Arsenal was somewhat of a first choice for Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho as he searched for a viable alternative to John Stones but the Portuguese failed to land the Greek defender due to Roma’s resistance. In a recent interview with Calcio Marcato, 24 has expressed no regrets over his proposed failed move to Chelsea and he is keen to concrete on his football.
He said “I can only say that I have five year contract here and I want to win it all with this team”. The 24 year old might well be rewarded concerning his wishes for trophies, with Juventus poor start to the season. The Greek defender will be hoping to play a pivotal role as Roma plan to upstage Juventus as Seria A champions.