Chelsea are ‘very interested’ to sign young Atalanta midfielder Franck Kessie, but are facing competition from the Premier League side Everton, who have had a £15m bid for the player turned down.
Kessie is naturally a defensive midfielder, but also has the ability to score goals and provide assists, netting six hits this season along with one assist. He’s one of the team’s key players at Atalanta, who are currently sitting sixth in the Serie A table.
The Ivory Coast international is currently on his way to represent his country at the African Cup of Nations, and won’t be rushing into a new move according to his agent George Atangana, with a lot of admirers monitoring the 20-year-old.
Chelsea are very interested and it is a great club but we must take our time to consider all the options.
Now we are in January so he has to play at the Africa Cup of Nations for Ivory Coast so I am not going to rush anything.
We have a lot of interest from the Premier League. I cannot say at this stage how much he will cost but we are talking about one of the best young players in the world.
– George Atangana, The Guardian
Antonio Conte has always had a good look at the potential signings from Italy, with Kessie clearly somewhere near the top of his wish list.
Last summer the former Azzurri boss signed N’Golo Kante from Leicester to rebuild his midfield section, and recalled Nathan Ake from his loan spell with Bournemouth to give cover for all first-team players playing either in defence or midfield, where the Dutchman has the ability to operate in.
