Confirmed: Chelsea To Complete Two January Deals Within 48 Hours
Jan 29, 2017 at 8:18 PM
It’s a pretty good time to be a Chelsea fan.
The Blues are flying in every sense of the word and a 2-0 defeat to Tottenham is the miniscule and sole blot on their copybook. Moreover, this superb form has come amid the sale of Oscar and a quite astonishing episode involving Diego Costa.
Antonio Conte might be seeing even further changes to his squad before the transfer window ends though. Amid their current purple patch, it’s clear the club is more than willing and confident enough to offload two of the side’s veterans.
The men in question? Branislav Ivanovic and Asmir Begovic.
According to the BBC, both players are on the brink of a move away from Stamford Bridge. The news arrives with just three days left of a somewhat underwhelming January window.
Ivanovic is believed to be pursued by West Brom. The Baggies are in fine form in the Premier League and the addition of the Serbian right-back would appear – at least on paper – a substantial boost to their side.
After all, the veteran has won the Champions League, two Premier League titles and three FA Cups since his move to west London in 2008. You’d be hard pressed to argue that he is anything but a club legend.
The 32-year-old has racked up no less than 376 appearances in blue and, in spite of his position, has amassed an admirable 34 goals.
Furthermore, Ivanovic left a departing present for the fans when he found the net against Brentford this weekend. His near-post finish from the bench will not only have proven a fitting end at Chelsea but a promising indicator for Tony Pulis.
With the right-back having started just eight times this season, the Baggies’ raid looks to be a confident one.
Begovic, by contrast, has endured a far less exciting spell at the Bridge. His two and a half years with Chelsea have seen him play second fiddle to no less than Thibaut Courtois.
That hasn’t stopped the ex-Stoke City man from amassing 30 appearances though and he remains a solid back up. His impending departure, reportedly to Bournemouth, will prove nothing more than an inconvenience for Chelsea, however.
Even without the situations unfolding with Begovic and Ivanovic, Chelsea have experienced a busy window in terms of departures.
The Balkan duo would be joining Oscar, John Obi Mikel and Patrick Bamford out the back door of Stamford Bridge, after all.
For Conte, though, the deals appear shrewd and a sensible way of managing his convoluted squad. While Ivanovic would hardly be classed as dead wood, his departure would have few permutations for the first team.
Therefore, it might prove cruel, but it looks another brilliant decision by Conte. Moreover, were the details to go through, both Bournemouth and West Brom would have secured marquee signings.
With just one league loss in sixteen fixtures too, it would take a biblical squad exodus for their form to be hampered. The Blues seem unstoppable.