Chelsea scouts watched €200m trio in person – all three would be massive upgrade to first team options | OneFootball

Last night was the Milan derby, and it was a thriller. There were three goals and three red cards as Inter secured the Serie A title against their rivals.

But Chelsea’s scouts weren’t just there to see the celebrations. According to Graeme Bailey of The Boot Room, three separate targets were on the field for the Blues to watch – Mike Maignan of AC Milan, then Federico Dimarco and Lautaro Martinez of Inter.

Dimarco swung in the corner which led to the opening goal, then later fired in another great cross which Martinez wasn’t able to put away. Maignan kept Inter at bay at times, but couldn’t hold back the tide in the end. There was certainly plenty of action for our scouts to feast their eyes on at the San Siro.

The financial reality

We can see what left sided flier Di Marco would add to this team right away. Maignan would be a huge upgrade in goal, and Lautaro is a superb striker who we’ve long wanted to see in Blue. He’s now reach 20 goals in three consecutive league seasons.

Left back, goalkeeper and forward are perhaps the positions in our side which most need reinforcement, and any of these players would really improve us instantly.

But being realistic, it’s hard to see how we afford any of them. Inter are in a strong bargaining position having won the league. Meanwhile we’re busy paying off our spend from previous years.

Maignan is valued at €40m on Transfermarkt, Lautaro €110m and Dimarco €50m. That’s €200m of talent, and that’s before you start thinking about wages. Even if we were to attempt to sign just one, it’s going to be a very costly operation, and we’d likely need to sell several players before we can even start thinking about prising away these top assets from their clubs.