Chelsea’s deadline day capture of central midfielder Mateo Kovacic has left the Stamford Bridge club with an unbalanced squad, according to Sky Sports reporter Kaveh Solhekol.
The Blues now have a whopping nine midfielders competing for a place at the heart of Maurizio Sarri’s side, after signing Croatia international Kovacic on a season long loan.
With Jorginho, N’Golo Kante and Kovacic expected to be first choice, it is possible that the likes of Tiemoue Bakayoko, Cesc Fabregas and Danny Drinkwater will be offered to European clubs between now and when the transfer window on the Continent closes at the end of the month.
“The two arrivals today means the Chelsea squad is now a bit unbalanced,” he told Sky Sports News.
“They now have nine central midfielders and we can expect some of them to be moved on.”
Sources at Chelsea also informed Solhekol that £71 million goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga had always been the Stamford Bridge clubs first choice to replace Belgium international who joined Real Madrid yesterday.
“Meanwhile, Kepa has revealed that the first time Chelsea got in contact with him was when he got back from his holidays two weeks ago.
“Sources at Chelsea have told me he was always their No 1 choice and they also tried to sign him before. And Kepa said Chelsea made two bids for him this summer, but Bilbao rejected them.”
