Chelsea ready to agree January deal for ANOTHER player after seeing £23m deadline day offer rejected

The Blues keep unearthing young talents

September 07, 2023 at 3:08 pm GMT+1

Chelsea are ready to agree another transfer just days after the window slammed shut after Mauricio Pochettino’s side saw a deadline day move worth £23m rejected.

The player in question is 18-year-old talented winger Antonio Nusa, who currently plies his trade for Belgian outfit Club Brugge. The Norway starlet, who is yet to be capped by the senior side but has three caps for the U21 outfit, is being watched by as many as 20 clubs with the left-winger having caught the eye with his performances in the Belgian top flight.

Before this season, the majority of his 46 appearances for Club Brugge had been from the substitutes bench, but he has started four times already this season and grabbed a goal and an assist for his efforts.

He also became the second youngest Champions League goalscorer ever in 2022-23, behind only Barcelona winger Ansu Fati (Now on loan at Brighton).

August 24, 2023, Pamplona, Foral Community of Navarre, Spain: Pamplona, Spain, 24th August, 2023: Club Brugge's player Antonio Nusa (32) with the ball during the first leg match of the UEFA Europa Conference League 2023-24 Preliminary Round (Alamy Stock Photo)

The Blues saw a £23m bid turned down on transfer deadline day for the forward, who the Evening Standard claim ‘would only have joined Mauricio Pochettino’s first-team squad had Ian Maatsen or Conor Gallagher been sold’, and a loan back to Brugge had been discussed between the two sides.

Now though, they will face added competition for his signature as Nusa ‘is currently being watched by at least 20 other clubs in one of Europe’s most heavily-scouted leagues for young talent’, though the Blues are set to try again for the teenager in the January transfer window.

The Blues have endured a tricky start to the season, with just one win from their opening four games and that coming at home to lowly Luton Town, while they edged past Wimbledon 2-1 in the Carabao Cup. Though there is plenty of promise in the squad, adding another potential superstar rather than a ready-made one will test the patience of the Chelsea faithful.