Chelsea Could Pursue Roma Midfielder Kone Again in January, Deal Could Involve Gittens

Chelsea could reportedly try again in January to sign Roma midfielder Manu Kone, and the deal could involve Jamie Gittens.

According to Simon Phillips, the Blues monitored Kone during the summer, while Gittens has also told the club that he wants to leave Chelsea and join Roma.

Chelsea could pursue Kone again

Chelsea renewing their pursuit of Kone appears to be a reasonable option. The West London side lost Enzo Fernandez to Manchester City on deadline day, while they also missed out on Lamine Camara.

According to Simon Phillips' previous report on Substack, both Chelsea and Camara were angry after Monaco cancelled the deal at the final stage.

If Chelsea no longer return to pursue Camara after experiencing difficulties dealing with Monaco, Kone appears to be a good alternative option.

Potential Kone-Gittens swap deal

Discussing the possibility of a swap involving Kone and Gittens, Phillips wrote: "SPTC sources understand that Chelsea plan to contact Roma again soon to discuss signing their midfielder Manu Kone in the January transfer window."

"The two clubs held talks over a deal for Kone during the summer deadline week, but in the end everything became too late and rushed for any deal to be completed. However, Roma were very willing to negotiate the sale of Kone. Ultimately they could not reach an agreement, and Chelsea then turned to Lamine Camara because there was very little time left."

"Part of the issue was that Roma wanted to sign Jamie Gittens from Chelsea as part of the Kone deal. Clearly, this would need to be handled as a separate transfer on an official level, and there is a lot that needs to be sorted out if both clubs want to complete the deal, with Gittens also needing to agree to join Roma."

"Kone himself is interested in joining Chelsea, while Gittens has actually approached Chelsea to ask the club to allow him to leave on a permanent transfer. Chelsea told Roma they were willing to sell Gittens to them during negotiations for Kone, but Roma only wanted to loan him."

"Our sources have heard that as Chelsea consider signing a new midfielder in January, Gittens is likely to become involved again in talks with Roma over Kone. Gittens is very concerned about his playing time at Chelsea, and his agent began looking for other options late in the transfer window, but ultimately everything became too rushed for everyone."

Gittens should leave Chelsea

Gittens previously asked about leaving Chelsea, which is understandable because his move to Stamford Bridge has arguably fallen far short of expectations.

The 22-year-old looked like a highly promising young star at former club Borussia Dortmund, but so far he has scored only one goal in 28 appearances for Chelsea.

In addition, competition for places is fierce in Xabi Alonso's squad, so a move to a club like Roma may be more suitable for him to revive his career.