Romano latest: Chelsea have “plan” to bring new midfielder in next 48 hours | OneFootball

Chelsea’s January has been all about sales and loans out. That’s fair enough – there were no shortage of players who needed to be moved on in one form or another – but that’s not what really gets the fans’ juices flowing.

What they want is players coming in, especially given the very shaky form their side has been in since Christmas. Credible rumours about that have been thin on the ground. But today the guru of all gurus Fabrizio Romano has lit a little candle of hope.

He said that Chelsea “remain in the market for a new midfielder” as part of their “plan” for these final days. The board are “working” to find the best solution to support manager Enzo Maresca as he looks to get their season back on track.

There’s no indication in there about which midfielders might be on the list.

Chelsea fans puzzled by sporting directors’ logic

Andrey Santos in Strasbourg training.

There’s no doubt this squad needs a midfielder – Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo are being run into the ground in the middle because Romeo Lavia is never fit to support them. As we pointed out back in the summer, all the reinforcements brought in (Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Joao Felix) are too attacking to play as a number 6.

But a glance at the responses below Romano’s Tweet reveals the real feelings of many fans – why are Chelsea going to buy a number 6 when they have two they bought last summer (Andrey Santos and Lesley Ugochukwu) out on loan?

Maresca has already said they won’t do that. But what’s the logic to that? We can only assume it’s so that they keep getting minutes and putting themselves in the shop window.

So is the point here to create the strongest possible Chelsea squad or develop players to sell on?