Chelsea may be one of a number of clubs scouting Monaco wonderkid Malamine Efekele, according to Fabrizio Romano in his latest column for the Daily Briefing.
Speaking exclusively to CaughtOffside for the piece, Romano explained that it’s normal for top clubs like Chelsea to monitor top young talents like this, with the journalist describing Efekele as an interesting prospect.
Monaco have produced some fine young players down the years, none more so than Kylian Mbappe, whom Efekele has been compared to, so Chelsea and other elite sides from around Europe could do well to keep an eye on him and their other youngsters currently coming through.
Efekele may be the pick of the bunch, though, with the 19-year-old French forward looking like he could already be good enough to make the step up to a top Premier League club, with Chelsea also known for targeting precisely this profile of player under the ownership of Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali.
The Blues have signed other young players from France such as Malo Gusto, Benoit Badiashile and Lesley Ugochukwu, so it will be interesting to see if they can repeat the trick here by bringing in Efekele, though it seems nothing is advanced for now.
“I’ve had some fans ask me about Monaco wonderkid Malamine Efekele and links with Chelsea,” Romano said.
“He’s a very good and interesting talent, but I’m not aware of any concrete talk or link, at this stage. It’s just normal scouting activity by many top clubs, something very normal for talents like Efekele.”