Silly season has well and truly begun. The turn of the year marks the opening of the January window and recent big hitters Chelsea are almost certain to be in and among the chatter throughout the month.
Just 12 months ago, they embarked upon a record smashing four weeks that saw them sign eight new players for over £300million combined including the record British transfer at the time. This time round they have more focused business that needs attending to.
One of the areas that many expect the Blues to push for is a new striker and January 1 marks the opening of what is likely to be a small and crowded window that clubs can sign Kylian Mbappe. The Paris Saint-Germain forward refused to sign an extension with the Parisiens over the summer and looked set to leave after being taken out of plans during pre-season.
The Frenchman now has less than six months to run on his deal and will be available to walk away for free come the end of the season. Although PSG have reportedly tried to blank out the chance of that being to Real Madrid there are not likely to be a shortage of offers on the table.
Chelsea, who had Mbappe on a trial briefly in the early 2010s, may well be one of those clubs. Here, football.london discusses the optics of a deal and just whether it makes sense.
football.london says: Mbappe and Mauricio Pochettino yet again? Why not? Ignoring the financial side of things for a second, because his wages would blow all attempts to shrink the bill over the past 12 months way out of the water, this is an incredible opportunity.
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