Chelsea tipped to beat Arsenal to punch again in deal for winger Boehly would ‘lick his lips at’
Stan Collymore believes Chelsea owner Todd Boehly would ‘lick his lips at’ a move for Arsenal target Kaoru Mitoma, which ‘would be too good for Brighton to turn down’.
January was one of the most memorable transfer windows there has ever been. It was dominated by movement from Chelsea, with new owner Boehly happy to splash the cash.
Overall, in two transfer windows, the American has sanctioned deals for 16 players, and spent north of £500million.
While January is usually the quieter of the two windows for most clubs, the Blues went big. The British transfer record fee of £107million which they paid for Enzo Fernandez was the statement signing.
The World Cup-winning midfielder was one of eight incomings, with the total spend hovering around £300million.
It seems there’s a clear theme during transfer windows under Boehly: spending. After the first two windows, there are no signs that’s going to stop any time soon.
If the January signings do the trick and help the club climb up the table from ninth, it’ll be a surprise if the owner doesn’t see that improvement and fancy more of it next season.
There’s also the possibility that Chelsea could get the better of Arsenal yet again in the summer.
Boehly would ‘lick his lips’ over Mitoma move
In January, Arsenal’s main target was Mykhaylo Mudryk. Indeed, anyone who’s seen his social media will know he was desperate to move to the Emirates, and the north London club were keen to make that happen.
They were in talks early on in January, before Chelsea swooped in and snared the winger before they had a proper chance. That might happen yet again in the summer, as Arsenal have been linked with a move for Brighton winger Mitoma.
That Chelsea could be keen on a move for the forward has been revealed by former professional footballer Collymore.
“Obviously, his ability is there for all to see so I’d be amazed if, come the end of the season, some of the bigger teams weren’t making offers for him. He isn’t going to command a huge fee. he told Caught Offside.
“He’ll have two years left on his deal and he was bought for virtually nothing, so from a commercial point of view, even a £30m offer, which would be over a 500 per cent return on investment in just 12 months, would be too good for Brighton to turn down.”
“And, as we all know, that kind of deal is something Chelsea’s new owner would lick his lips at.”
Arsenal should be in stronger position
Collymore’s idea of Mitoma’s price tag is not far from one that has recently been reported, which was £35million. As such, it should be a closer race, if it was to happen, between Chelsea and Arsenal this time.
The Gunners should have been in a good negotiating position with Mudryk. They had a player that wanted to leave a club practically begging to come to them.
However, reports suggested there were reservations about paying Shakhtar Donestk’s asking price. However, Chelsea had no problems in paying it, which is why they got the deal done.
They’d surely be a lot happier with paying a fee in the region of £30million. What’s more, they might have won the Premier League by then – they’re currently five points clear at the top – so Mitoma would surely be keen to join them over Chelsea.
Perhaps this pursuit is one that wouldn’t play out quite like the Mudryk one. Either way, even while losing a bright spark, Brighton would surely be happy with making a great return.
