Chelsea continue pursuit of Man City youngster & Ruben Amorim favourite | OneFootball

Chelsea have not been deterred by Manchester City's refusal to agree a January deal for Nico O'Reilly, while they also remain interested in Las Palmas loanee Dario Essugo, a new report has revealed.

The Blues did add to their midfield ranks on deadline day, signing teenager Mathis Amougou from St Etienne to an eight-year contract in a deal thought to be worth £12.5m (€15m).

But that was the only winter addition made by Enzo Maresca, who sanctioned the loan exits of Renato Veiga, Ben Chilwell, Carney Chukwuemeka, Caleb Wiley, Axel Disasi and Joao Felix to help trim down an exceptionally bloated Chelsea squad.

Bizarrely, Chelsea do still appear to be light of options in central midfield, and their lack of personnel has been exposed by injuries to Enzo Fernandez and Romeo Lavia - the latter, while exceptionally talented, has been dogged by constant niggles throughout his time at Stamford Bridge.

Their reliance on Moises Caicedo to be a fit and available constant led to a late January bid for City teenager O'Reilly, who has started to be given more first-team opportunities by Pep Guardiola, but the Premier League champions were not willing to entertain Chelsea's approach.

The Daily Mail write that O'Reilly remains on Chelsea's shortlist heading into the summer transfer window, and is joined by Essugo, who is currently on loan at Las Palmas from Portuguese giants' Sporting CP.

Dario Essugo in action for Sporting CP during the 2023/24 season / Gualter Fatia/GettyImages

19-year-old Essugo was handed a first-team debut in Lisbon by now-Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim and has impressed in La Liga after an August loan move. He may well have been pursued ahead of Amougou the report adds, but Chelsea would not have been able to register him this season as he'd already appeared for Sporting at the beginning of the 2024/25 campaign - rules state that players can only represent two clubs in any given season.

Whether or not City are willing to alter their stance on O'Reilly remains to be seen, while it's not yet clear whether Sporting would entertain the possibility of selling Essugo, especially as his loan spell is geared around providing him with more top-level first-team experience before potentially breaking into their side upon his return.

Amorim certainly saw the potential in Essugo, making him the club's youngest ever player at 16 years and 6 days old when he came on for Sporting's 1-0 win over Vitoria de Guimaraes. He has since played a further 22 times for the club across all competitions and has represented Portugal at every available youth level.