Chelsea: 3 things to know about transfer target Josip Juranovic
What can Josip Juranovic offer to Chelsea?
By this point, James will be well aware of Murphy’s Law. Whatever can go wrong is going wrong for the fellow Englishman. James suffered a knee injury in October that ruled him out not only for months but killed off any chances of making it to Gareth Southgate’s England squad for the Qatar World Cup 2022.
Missing a world cup can be devastating for a young and hungry player like James, yet he backed himself up and worked hard on his return. After last playing in mid-October, James finally touched the on-field grass against Bournemouth as Chelsea resumed their Premier League campaign after the world cup break.
If missing the world cup wasn’t painful enough, James’ return lasted only 53 minutes as he suffered a knee injury, perhaps a recurrence of the same injury that ruled him out for close to three months. In those 53 minutes, the 23 year old looked sharp and combined extremely well with Raheem Sterling.
The full back is now out for around a month, leaving Chelsea with scarce options at right back and forcing the bosses at Stamford Bridge to make a decision in the January transfer window.
Juranovic can slot in directly in James’ role. Now, James is one of the best full backs in the world right now so Juranovic will have big shoes to fill. What works in Croat’s favour is the pace he possesses and the tidy distribution skills he has. He offers much more while going forward as opposed to Cesar Azpilicueta.
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His versatility comes in handy as Juranovic can deputize as a left back as well as play in a wing back role or on the right side of the back three. Juranovic is valued at £8 million but still has three and a half years left on his current contract. Celtic won’t make negotiations easy as they will be reluctant to sell him, nonetheless, the 27 year old will not cause a big hole in the deep pockets of Todd Boehly.