Chelsea are reportedly preparing a £40m bid to beat London rivals Tottenham to the signature of Napoli’s teenage star Amadou Diawara.
English daily The Sun have claimed that Chelsea are preparing to trump their London rivals Tottenham to the signature of Napoli starlet Amadou Diawara. Blues manager Antonio Conte is looking to add depth to his defensive midfield options in an attempt to bolster the club’s chances of mounting a title challenge this season.
Amadou Diawara arrived in Naples following an impressive run of performances for fellow Serie A side Bologna, where the midfielder featured in 34 league appearances, starting 33 of them. The 19-year-old has managed 4 appearances for Napoli in the league thus far in the present campaign and has started to attract attention from the Premier League’s top clubs.
The report also states that there is interest from Chelsea’s local rivals Tottenham, who have had a £34m bid for the prodigy rejected. Napoli director Christian Guintoli had described the starlet as ‘unsellable’ while speaking to Italian publication Il Mattino.
However, Chelsea are prepared to test Napoli’s resolve with a bid in the region of £40m, as reported by The Sun. Conte has deployed N’Golo Kante and Nemanja Matic as his central midfielder pairing thusfar with great success, but the Italian is supposedly seeking an infusion of youth and drive to partner the dynamic Kante.
There are not many options available to the Italian manager within the current squad for that role. Cesc Fabregas, for all his strengths, does not fit the bill, while Oscar has continued to be inconsistent and there are doubts over the Brazilian’s ability to be influential in the new 3-4-3 formation.
Tottenham’s interest comes as a surprise, with Mauricio Pochettino already having the likes of Eric Dier, Victor Wanyama and Mousa Dembele among others in his squad. However, the North Londoners are unlikely to take a step back and let Chelsea grab the young starlet.
Diawara’s future will be clearer come January, but regardless of where he continues to play his football, the teenager seems to be on track to have a very successful career.
