Premier League Champions Chelsea are pondering over summer swoop for Everton’s defensive midfielder Idrissa Gueye
According to a story from Bleacher Report, the Blues are considering making a move for the Senegalese International. Everton have reportedly made it clear that the midfielder is not for sale at any price and they will offer him a new contract to try and keep him at the club.
Gueye, 27, has impressed with his tenacious and tireless performances over the course of the past two seasons in the English top flight. He signed for Aston Villa from Lille at the start of the 2015/16 season and was arguably their best player in what ultimately proved to be a disastrous campaign.
The following summer, he was immediately signed by Everton for a fee of around £7.5 million after which he wasted no time in establishing himself as one of Ronald Koeman’s most reliable players, drawing interest from the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United in the process.
His seemingly endless stamina, strong physical presence, no-nonsense tackling and his ability to sniff out danger have helped him settle into the English top flight with ease and they are all attributes that Antonio Conte would love to have in his team.
As per Squawka’s statistics, Idrissa has a 86% pass completion rate, making just under 49 successful passes a game. His contribution in defence include a cool 3.12 tackles and 2.27 blocks per game. It is these kind of numbers that have led to comparisons with Chelsea’s N’golo Kante.
Coincidentally, both Gueye and Kante arrived on the shores of England in 2015 to sign for Aston Villa and Leicester City respectively, on the very same flight to Birmingham.
With the Blues set to return to the Champions League next season, top class reinforcements are needed at Stamford Bridge if Conte is to lead them to a successful Premier League title defence and mount a strong challenge in Europe and other competitions like the FA and Capital One cups.
However, with Lukaku set to leave Goodison Park and Ross Barkley likely to follow suit, Koeman will be desperate to hold on to Gueye. Everton have only just managed to qualify for the Europa League and they will need to hold on to their best players if they are to build on their season. So Everton will certainly put up a fight to keep ahold of him and it remains to be seen whether Chelsea’s financial might can help them win the Toffees over.
