According to The Express, Chelsea are interested in signing Arsenal target Rasmus Højlund and recently held a secret meeting to finalize the signing. The Blues are said to have invited Antonio Percassi, chairman of Atalanta, to Stamford Bridge to discuss a potential transfer for the Danish striker.
Højlund has scored 14 goals and provided six assists in 34 appearances for Atalanta this season in all competitions.
Atalanta is expected to seek a fee of around £60m for Højlund's services and Arsenal are said to be interested in the player. Mikel Arteta is looking to build a squad capable of playing in the UEFA Champions League next season. Despite having Gabriel Jesus, Leandro Trossard and Eddie Nketiah in the ranks, the Gunners want to go deeper in 9th place.
In addition to the Gunners, Chelsea are also looking for a market for a striker as summer signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has barely featured this season.
Armando Broja, who has been out for the rest of the season with an ACL injury, is the only other designated striker the Blues have in their ranks. As a result, putting more options on their front lines could serve West Londoners well.
Højlund, 20, has previously claimed he resembles Manchester City striker Erling Haaland. He said (via AIM):
"I see between me and Erling Haaland there are similarities. He is fast, south-footed, tall, has a good scorer and is a top scorer. His mentality is also completely crazy! "
Chelsea and Arsenal target Rasmus Højlund warned by coach
Atalanta boss Gian Piero Gasperini recently urged Chelsea and Arsenal to target Rasmus Højlund to stay humble despite interest from Europe's top clubs in acquiring his services. .
After Atalanta's 3-1 win over Cremonense at the weekend, Gasperini told Tutto Mercato Web:
"I don't see him focused, he's probably still stunned by the many compliments he's received during the week. He also has to pay more attention in the final than in the defensive phase, he still misses him. He has very important qualities and he has shown them, he is very young and he must not think that he has nothing left to learn."
Gasperini added:
"The ladder to improvement is endless, you must not lose humility and spirit."
While Højlund was unable to score against Cremonese, he did provide an assist after coming on from the bench.
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Jamie Carragher said Chelsea are following their management policy properly and highlighted three available candidates they could bring in for continued success.
From an outside perspective, Chelsea's announcement of the sacking of Graham Potter on Sunday came as no surprise but was nonetheless disconcerting.
Looks like nothing has changed despite changing owners last summer.
In fact, Todd Boehly and the ownership team led by Clearlake Capital have taken it to the next level. Under Roman Abramovich, Chelsea have never fired two different managers in a single season. However, Carragher simply argues that there is no reason for Chelsea to give up on what has proven so successful for the club over the past two decades.
Training session and press conference at Chelsea
Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC's photo via Getty Images
"That's what they do," the Liverpool legend told Sky Sports Monday Night Football about Chelsea's decision to sack Potter.
“Are they going back to the idea of ??a promising young coach, like Graham Potter?
“But this club is used to recruiting managers.
"And the current coaches that come to mind are [Zinedine] Zidane, [Luis] Enrique, [Julian] Nagelsmann. “These are managers who have succeeded at the highest level. That's what Chelsea have done in the past.
"I know it's another owner and I'm not criticizing at all, I don't like some of the criticism that Chelsea get 'they changed another manager'.
"I don't care. It works for them. “When you come to Chelsea as a coach, you know what the score is.
"Don't complain when you lose your job because this club has done a great job with this culture."
As Carragher mentioned, Zidane, Enrique and Nagelsmann are the best coaches, and they are exactly the people Abramovich probably chose to lead his team.
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