Talk about a late summer transfer surprise. Chelsea do have the ability to move in silence. We have seen that multiple times in the past. And now, it looks like the Blues are suddenly close to signing a Brighton & Hove Albion player even though there had been no speculation in the media about the move until now.
Of course, Chelsea have missed out on signing Xavi Simons, which comes as a blow to everybody. But it looks like they will still bring in a couple more players before the summer transfer window closes.
The first of them is Alejandro Garnacho, who is on the verge of joining from Manchester United on a £40m deal. The second is an Argentine teammate of his, in a move nobody saw coming.
As reported by Fabrizio Romano, Chelsea have progressed in talks to sign Facundo Buonanotte from Brighton & Hove Albion. Negotiations are underway between the clubs for Argentine talent, and an agreement is now seen as ‘close’.
Fabrizio Romano confirms Chelsea close to signing Brighton player out of nowhere
This news has come out of absolutely nowhere. It had looked like Buonanotte was set to join Leeds United this summer but Chelsea clearly had other ideas.
Of course, Chelsea fans will be disappointed if this is the club's answer to missing out on Simons. With all due respect, Buonanotte is not viewed as someone in that category of talent. But then again, he might surprise everybody, like Cole Palmer and Joao Pedro have.
Buonanotte had a pretty decent loan spell at Leicester City. He scored 6 goals and provided 3 assists in 35 appearances and 1701 minutes of football for the Foxes.
One also has to wonder if Chelsea are trying to save some of their budget and spring a late surprise by signing another centre-back, something that the Blues need and Enzo Maresca clearly wants. Let's see how things play out.