Report: £80m would secure Chelsea league’s most dangerous dribbler | OneFootball

Kaoru Mitoma had a moment a couple of years ago when he was being linked with big moves, soon after making his breakout for Brighton.

He’s such an exceptional dribbler and one on one player that he attracted tons of attention from all over, and there was a real bubble of hype where it looked like Liverpool or Chelsea or someone similar would swoop in and sign him up.

But that bubble burst after a while, and his form hasn’t been quite as strong for the Seagulls. Their resurgence under Fabian Hurzeler this season has seen the Japan star back to his best however, and there’s a strong feeling that this could earn Mitoma a second shot at the big time. His sublime goal against Chelsea on Saturday night really provided a focus for all that attention.

A Saudi Arabian club made a huge €90m offer for Mitoma in January, but were rejected.

Mitoma not on Chelsea’s radar 2 years after serious interest

Kaoru Mitoma playing for Brighton.

A fresh report from CaughtOffside has put Chelsea right back in the mix, claiming that the club are keen to upgrade their wide options with Mykhailo Mudryk facing a long doping ban.

But those same reports claim it would take a bid of £80m to make Brighton sell, and there’s no way that Chelsea would pay that for a player who is already 27. He doesn’t fit our model, and despite clearly wanting to sign a left winger, we will be looking at younger and cheaper options.

We will confidently say now that there are no serious bids for Mitoma from the Blues – we’re not in the business of signing players over 22, and we’re certainly not in the business of competing with Saudi clubs over transfer fees.

Our wing wizard is going to have to come from elsewhere.