Chelsea’s deadline-day approach for Manchester City midfielder Nico O’Reilly was rejected, according to reports.
Chelsea added a new midfielder to their winter want list after Romeo Lavia returned to the sidelines due to injury. The Blues chose to maintain Andrey Santos and Lesley Ugochukwu on loan from Strasbourg and Southampton, respectively, and instead pursued a fresh signing.
The 19-year-old O’Reilly surfaced as a potential target for Chelsea, and The Athletic reports that Enzo Maresca’s side attempted to initiate talks about a late-winter transfer, only to find City unwilling to trade.
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After losing Cole Palmer to Chelsea in the summer of 2023, City were determined to avoid a repetition and made it clear that any deal to transfer O’Reilly would include a buy-back provision, prompting Chelsea to turn away.
Instead, Chelsea are likely to complete a £12.5 million deal to recruit 19-year-old Saint-Etienne midfielder Mathis Amougou, albeit there have been conflicting claims as to whether the Frenchman is joining Chelsea or Strasbourg. Reported by 90 min.
City, meanwhile, completed the £50 million purchase of Nico Gonzalez from Porto, hoping to fully fill the vacuum left by Rodri’s early-season injury.
Chelsea’s deadline day was dominated by departures, with the club saying goodbye to Carney Chukwuemeka, Ben Chilwell, Axel Disasi, and Joao Felix on loan agreements, and Maresca revealed he was pleased with the club’s business when the market closed.
“Everything that happened was planned by me, the club, and everyone involved,” Maresca said following Chelsea’s 2-1 victory over West Ham United.
“Probably we can find some different solutions. The ones that are here are the ones that are going to be with us until the end. The ones that left, we all agreed they could go.”
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