Chelsea could “go back” to secondary target in final 36 hours of hectic January | OneFootball

Chelsea’s transfer window story in central midfield has swung one way and then the other.

After an initial barrage on Benfica to try and sign Enzo Fernandez, the Blues turned their attentions to Moises Caicedo, and the last two weeks have seen far more chatter about the Brighton man than the Argentine.

But the last couple of days have suddenly seen a return to talks with Benfica, and now Caicedo is the one out of frame. The latest reports on Brighton’s demands all mention Arsenal, with Chelsea not even considered now.

But it would be a mistake to think we’re out of the race entirely. Miguel Delaney points out that any failure to get Fernandez over the line “could see the Stamford Bridge hierarchy go back to Caicedo in the final 36 hours of the window.”

We see the logic – we need a central midfielder and don’t want to hit February without one. But if we’re getting to the point of paying more than £80m for Caicedo (and that now seems like the minimum we would have to pay) you’d start to wonder if paying £102m for Fernandez isn’t just a better option.