Advertisement

Hot Football Transfer Gossip: Chelsea ‘offer Willian and Oscar in exchange for Pogba’

It’s a sad fact of life that they aren’t enough swap deals in football. All those terribly vulgar multi-million pound swoops and undisclosed fees and buyout clauses could be wiped out if clubs just exchanged their players instead. No need for haggling or agents or money - just a fair system of valuing players against each other. It seems such an obvious solution given the frequency with which teams acquire and jettison personnel, but it’s probably all a bit too socialist, or something.

But not for Chelsea. According to the Express, the Blues are going all out for a big swapsie, one that actually seems quite reasonable: Willian and Oscar for Paul Pogba. Boom.

It actually makes sense. Chelsea get one of the world’s best midfielders to feed their sense of superiority, while Juventus get Oscar - a player they have already tried to buy - and Willian, who has been the Blues’ best player this season.

Chelsea actually have a bit of history with swaps, such as Ashley Cole for William Gallas (they did well out of that one) and David Luiz for Nemanja Matic (not so well out of that one). On those occasions some money changed hands too, but it would nice if the Blues and Juve could arrange a straight swap this time. It could be the most beautiful football transfer since Gillingham signed Tony Cascarino in exchange for some tracksuits.

A flurry of Chelsea gossip has followed Antonio Conte’s appointment as manager, with the Mail claiming that the club are plotting an ambitious bid for Bayern Munich midfielder Arturo Vidal. Conte has apparently put the Chilean, who would cost at least £30m, “top of his wanted list”, while the Blues have also reportedly made a similar-sized offer for Roma midfielder Miralem Pjanic (Shoot). How Chelsea plan to persuade any of these players to overlook a glaring lack of Champions League football has not yet been explained.

Meanwhile, Leicester - a team virtually guaranteed a top-four place - face the prospect of losing their best players. The Mirror says the club expect that either Riyad Mahrez of N'Golo Kante will leave the King Power Stadium in the summer with a host of top clubs hovering.

Elsewhere, Real Madrid could swoop for Manchester United midfielder Ander Herrera (Star), Bayern Munich are tracking Tottenham’s Eric Dier (Bild) and Spurs, Arsenal, Manchester City and Liverpool are keen on 17-year-old Aston Villa winger Andre Green (Mirror). If he’s that good surely he should be in Villa’s team by now.

@darlingkevin