Transfer News: Chelsea rival Liverpool to sign PSG prodigy Ismael Gharbi
According to Goal (h/t The Sun), Chelsea will battle it out with Liverpool to secure the services of PSG prodigy Ismael Gharbi in the summer transfer window. He is one of the highly-rated prospects in the French side’s youth system and has already been touted to become a future superstar.
Gharbi will become a free agent after this season if he does not extend his current contract in the coming months. The Blues are looking to solve their crisis behind the scenes and focus their attention to sign the teenager. However, they will face firm competition from Jurgen Klopp’s side, who are keen on facilitating a move for the young attacker.
However, the English clubs could have it difficult in securing the Frenchman’s signature after this term. He still prefers to stay with Paris Saint-Germain, which would be a blow for them. However, his stance depends on assurances from the Ligue 1 club about first-team minutes in the next campaign. That could give the Premier League sides the breakthrough that they need to make their case in the future.
Do Chelsea have a chance?
The 17-year-old has earned lots of plaudits at a young age, and bringing him to Stamford Bridge would be a great business from our side. His preference and the prospect of playing alongside his idol Lionel Messi are some of the roadblocks that we need to overcome in this transfer race.
Fortunately, the French club’s desperate pursuit of the Champions League has seen them depend upon ready-made superstars. Their methods act against developing young players, which has seen them lose their highly-rated talents like Christopher Nkunku and Moussa Diaby, for example.
Hence, we may see a situation where the PSG youngster may not get assurances from Mauricio Pochettino. That could give us the opportunity to make our case in the months to come. Plus, it seems that the ownership uncertainty would be solved before May, which gives us time to facilitate a transfer.
However, the Reds would undoubtedly pose heavy competition for us, considering how they are looking to add fresh blood to their midfield. That being said, we have the capabilities to pip them in this transfer race regardless of their degree of interest.
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While Gharbi can be utilised as an attacking midfielder, he is suited to play as a right-winger or even a right-sided midfielder. In that sense, he is a lot similar to Hakim Ziyech, which makes the youngster a potentially perfect backup for Ziyech. Our midfield is packed right now, so playing the French prodigy as an attacker would be more suitable.
We have focused on young talents in the past few years, unlike PSG, which we could use to convince the French teenager about getting first-team minutes. Only time will give us an answer about our pursuit to sign the talented wonderkid.