What are Chelsea's chances of landing David Alaba as Bayern chief admits "he's free to speak" to clubs?
David Alaba to Chelsea? Surely not?
David Alaba to Chelsea makes sense, but just how realistic is it?
Well, in the current financial climate with the pandemic, there are only a few clubs who can afford to offer him the wages he desires, and Chelsea are one of them.
But he will also be tempted by Real Madrid and PSG, who are both expected to speak to his Agent alongside Chelsea next month regarding a potential move.
“He is free to speak to whoever he wants” admits Bayern Munich’s chief executive Karl-Heinz Rummenigge , after conceding that the 28-year old has rejected their lucrative offer of a new deal.
“Bayern did everything we could to try and reach an agreement” continued Rummenigge.
“We had a lot of conversations, but we wanted answers from him by the end of October.
“This didn’t happen and I don’t know if we’ll return to the negotiations.
“What I want to be clear about is that our offer showed exactly how much we value him, but he didn’t accept it.”
This does leave the door open for further negotiations, but also makes it look like Alaba has already made his mind up that he wont be staying at Bayern.
There is no doubt that the project at Chelsea under Frank Lampard has the ability to attract Alaba to it - we have already seen the evidence of this from comments of the likes of Kai Havertz, Timo Werner, Thiago Silva, and Hakim Ziyech - who all mentioned Lampard as a major factor to their decisions when moving to the club.
Alaba would be the perfect replacement for Silva, who has already become essential to Chelsea this season. The Brazilian international has a contract until the end of this season, with an option on either side to extend it by a year.
But when he goes, you can already see a gaping hole in Chelsea’s back line once again, and Alaba arriving in the summer would be a perfect solution.
Yes his wages are high, but the chance to sign a world-class player who is so versatile and experienced on a free transfer, must not be passed upon.
I believe Chelsea will at least be in the running to sign him, but it will be far from easy. They can come to an agreement from January the 1st, which is literally in 10 days time, and if the Blues do decide to enter negotiations and ward off interest from other clubs, then they will have themselves a Silva-calibre signing for the summer.