Chelsea are looking at Valencia's Joao Cancelo
Chelsea have expressed an interest in signing Valencia's right-back Joao Cancelo to help solve their wing-back shortage.
Joao Cancelo has been linked with both Tottenham and Juventus this summer as both clubs are in need of new right wing-backs having lost Kyle Walker and Dani Alves respectively while Barcelona have also been linked with Cancelo in the past, somewhat ironically as a replacement to Alves whom they lost to Juventus before they lost him to Paris Saint-Germain.
If Juventus, who reached last season's UEFA Champions League final, see him as a replacement for Alves, and Barcelona had similar thoughts before them, then that should be an encouraging sign for Chelsea fans. Chelsea desperately need cover/competition for Victor Moses at right wing-back what with the demands of Champions League football this season and the fact that Moses is banned for Chelsea's first game of the season because of the red card he picked up in the FA Cup final at the end of last season.
Cancelo is only 23-years-old but already has 73 La Liga appearances under his belt across three seasons with Valencia, has a season of Champions League experience having played in the group stages with Valencia in 2015/16 (he played in all six games and scored a goal) before they finished third and dropped into the Europa League, has represented Portugal in various age groups and has made five appearances for the senior side scoring three goals, although they were against Gibraltar, Andorra and the Faroe Islands in heavy wins (5-0, 6-0 and 6-0 respectively).
More encouragingly he can play anywhere down the right hand side, with Gary Neville deploying him in a more advanced role during his time as Valencia manager, and he can even fill in at left-back if needed.
Juventus are apparently prepared to pay £25million for Cancelo, there will probably be a Premier League premium on that should Chelsea (or even Spurs) look to sign Cancelo, but it doesn't sound like the crazy money we have seen with some of the moves this summer.
This sounds like it could be an exciting transfer. Chelsea desperately need wing-backs coming in to provide cover and/or competition for Marcos Alonso and Moses this season and Cancelo is young, with a fair amount of experience already under his belt, and looks like he would fit into Antonio Conte's style of play.
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