Chelsea are out of the Champions League this season – pretty definitively evicted by Bayern Munich in the second leg last weekend. But they still have former players in the competition, including one who actually scored in the quarter finals last night.
Mario Pasalic has been impressing for Atalanta ever since arriving from Chelsea on loan, and while he’s still technically just being lent to the club from Bergamo, they have activated the clause to make that move permanent this summer.
On BT Sport’s coverage of the game, Rio Ferdinand was raving about the Croatian after his goal, and several sites including Football365 picked up on his assertion that Chelsea were “crazy” to let the attacking midfielder go.
“Crazy, It’s crazy!” the former Man U defender said.
“He was a Chelsea player for six years! They’ve just sold him for £12m.”
It did seem a crazy small price for such a clearly talented player, but you never know what might have gone on behind the scenes. The loan fees may have been very juicy and effectively paid for him over the course of 3 years there on loan, or perhaps there was an agreement with the player.
It’s not for us to question Marina, Rio…
