Although they appear to have a bottomless pit of money, Chelsea have failed with a recent bid for a La Liga star.
According to The Sun, Atletico Madrid have rejected a £42m from the Blues for 20-year-old striker, Samu Omorodion.
Chelsea will have to pay £70m for Samu Omorodion
The Rojiblancos allegedly want closer to £70m for a player that hasn’t even played for them yet, spending last season on loan at Alaves where he scored nine goals and provided one assist per transfermarkt.
Whilst that seems an extortionate amount, it’s clear that Atleti value his age and potential projection over the coming years.
Chelsea seem to be taking the view that signing young players is the way forward, and that puts immediate pressure on Enzo Maresca to get things right.
Former manager, Mauricio Pochettino, who had much more experience than Maresca, with the greatest respect, wasn’t afforded enough time to get things right, so the thought that the new man in charge might be out on his ear in a year’s time if things don’t go to plan isn’t without foundation.
It’s not clear at this stage if Todd Boehly will authorise a second bid for Omorodion, or instruct the recruitment department to look elsewhere.
The American sometimes appears to have more money than sense, and it would be difficult to justify such an inflated fee for the player at this stage of his career.
A fear of missing out might just prompt Boehly to go for it, in the same way that the club went after Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo, to name just two players – albeit they were both firmly established as regulars at their respective clubs.