Chelsea in hot water after Lyon reject a third offer for Emerson Palmieri
According to Transfer Expert Fabrizio Romano on Twitter, Olympique Lyon rejected a third approach from Chelsea to recall Emerson Palmieri from his season-long loan and are keeping a firm stance on keeping hold of the left-back.
Emerson Palmieri’s loan move to Lyon has worked well for both the player and the Ligue 1 club. Garnering regular game time has seen the Italian rediscover his form, and the French team are enjoying a successful spell with him at left-back.
The Chelsea loanee has secured 19 appearances for Lyon across all competitions in this campaign – already a greater number than the total appearances he made for the Blues last season. During this time, he has scored one goal made one assist, looking sharp in the process.
However, the situation is quite gloomy at Stamford Bridge. The Blues’ first-choice left-back Ben Chilwell has been sidelined since November, and his recent surgery would most likely keep him out of action until the end of the season. So, the only recognized alternative that Thomas Tuchel currently has at left-back is Marcos Alonso. Even though Kenedy is back from his loan spell, how he performs in the Premier League stage after a long break remains a big question.
Amid such a situation, Chelsea tried to recall Emerson. Furthermore, the Blues board even agreed to pay a compensation fee of €4m to the French team. But, Fabrizio Romano suggests our board saw their third attempt to recall the defender rejected by Lyon as they want to keep hold of the star until the end of the season.
Romano also revealed that Chelsea aren’t considering making a move for PSG full-back Layvin Kurzawa and Inter Milan star Ivan Perisic in this transfer window.
Amid such a situation, the Blues board have an urgent deadline to sign a reinforcement before the winter transfer window ends. Without viable support, our German manager has to be overly dependent on Alonso for the rest of the season, which doesn’t seem a good solution considering his general unreliability in defence.
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The good news is that Chelsea recently completed the signing of young Derby County full-back Dylan Williams. The youngster could provide stiff competition to Chilwell and become a long term solution for the position. However, throwing him on in the Premier League is not without its risks and it remains to be seen just what approach Tuchel will adopt in the months to come.