Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has his eyes set on bolstering his midfield in January, and he has two expensive transfer targets in mind next month.
The Italian tactician has overseen a dramatic turnaround at Stamford Bridge this season, as a switch to a 3-4-3 system in September has resulted in a 12-game winning streak in the Premier League which in turn leaves Chelsea six points clear at the top of the table.
However, there is evidently still room for improvement and Conte is keen to add quality to his midfield in the upcoming transfer window and that has led to links with two players in particular.
According to Italian journalist Emanuele Giulianelli, as seen on Twitter below and as reported by The Daily Star, he claims that Conte is ready to launch a £51m bid for Roma midfielder Radja Nainggolan.
Having failed with three bids for the Belgian international this past summer, there isn’t much confidence that the Giallorossi will accept the offer and so an alternative is being planned by Chelsea.
As per the tweet and report, Chelsea will lodge a £38.2m bid for Bayern Munich ace Arturo Vidal, a player Conte knows well from their time together at Juventus.
With £60m added to the transfer budget after the sale of Oscar and with question marks still lingering over the future of Cesc Fabregas, it’s no real surprise to see Conte look for another midfield to compliment Nemanja Matic and N’Golo Kante.
It looks as though Chelsea are fighting a losing battle with Nainggolan as he appears to be settled in Rome and the Serie A outfit have no interest in selling him.
In turn, a move for Vidal seems to make more sense, but it will likely prove difficult to prise the Chilean international away from Bavaria too, and so Chelsea will have to have an attractive proposition ready for him.
Roma will answer no to Chelsea's €60mln offer for Nainggolan. Conte then will go on Vidal from Bayern, for an amount around €45mln #CFC
— Emanuele Giulianelli (@EmaGiulianelli) December 28, 2016