Sergio Aguero rumours troll Chelsea’s transfer market impotence
By George Perry
Shortly after AC Milan confirmed their pursuit of Alvaro Morata, rumours of Chelsea’s interest in Sergio Aguero sprung up. The Blues are making this summer too easy on the trolls.
After watching Romelu Lukaku sign with Manchester United, Chelsea are apparently hoping their “wait-and-see” approach will have a different result with Alvaro Morata. What’s that old saying about the definition of insanity?
AC Milan’s sporting director confirmed that the ambitious Serie A side are training their sights on Morata. Milan signed Leonardo Bonnucci from Juventus late last week. They already added Ricardo Rodriguez and Andrea Conti in the summer transfer window, and took Franck Kessie on a two-year loan-to-own from Atalanta last month.
A move for Alvaro Morata is consistent with the rest of AC Milan’s ambition and aggressiveness this summer. Allowing AC Milan to poach their now-top transfer target would be consistent with Chelsea’s lackadaisical approach to replacing Diego Costa and firming up their offence.
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Within a few hours of Massimiliano Mirabelli’s comments going public, Sky Sports posted rumours that Chelsea have a “strong and serious interest” in Sergio Aguero. Aguero’s name had sporadically popped up on the fringes of the rumour mill before. However, Sky reported these rumours with a new sense of earnestness. They almost immediately undercut that tone with all the caveats and explanations for why this deal would never really happen.
According to Mirabelli, AC Milan have “been after [Morata] right from the start.” He noted that Milan tempered their interest while other clubs entered the market for Morata. Now, though, Milan are back in the hunt.
Chelsea, therefore, had a window where they were essentially unopposed in their pursuit of Morata. Manchester United, as we all know, were using Morata as a decoy while they confirmed Romelu Lukaku. AC Milan took themselves out of the picture. For those few weeks leading up to the opening of the transfer window, Chelsea were only a serious bid away from Morata.
Now, Manchester United have Romelu Lukaku and are taunting Chelsea by feigning interest in Morata. AC Milan, who are willing to spend and capable of moving quickly, see only one limp competitor in the Morata market. Chelsea will depart for their pre-season tour in Asia with Michy Batshuayi as their main striker, as the never-dependable Loic Remy inches towards a permanent transfer.
And the rumour mill gets to play Mad Libs with any striker that comes to mind. No one really thinks that Manchester City would sell Sergio Aguero. Or that Chelsea are interested in Aguero. Or that Aguero is interested in such a move. But Chelsea fans are desperate for any sign of a transfer. The Blues’ track record of overpaying for the wrong player makes even the most implausible rumour slightly less so.
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The 2017 summer transfer window already beggars belief. The Lukaku debacle, the unwillingness to budge £3 million for Danilo, Willy Caballero… few would have predicted the last two and half weeks. Even so, Chelsea’s purported interest in Sergio Aguero is a few steps too far. We pay a price in lazy banter (#bants) for those earlier missteps.