Gianfranco Zola has discussed how close Chelsea were to signing one of their major targets in January.
After Cesc Fabregas was allowed to leave to join Monaco in the winter, we all assumed a replacement was coming in. It seemed to be between Nicolo Barella of Cagliari and Leandro Paredes of Zenit.
Paredes went to PSG, so Barella, coming from Serie A, seemed a natural fit. Instead, the deal suddenly went quiet.
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In quotes carried on Sports Witness, our assistant manager Gianfranco Zola responded to how close a deal had been:
“Very. He’s good and Sarri has always liked him, but things fell through.”
Clearly our boss and the board are looking to strengthen in that area, but didn’t like the deal on the table.
How costly that could now prove to be, given the transfer ban we were slapped with not long afterwards. Attempts to save a bit of money now may have cost us our chance of signing him at all.
