Fabrizio Romano reveals the winger Chelsea prefer over Kvaratskhelia in blatant transfer truth

Chelsea are unlikely to target Napoli winger Khvicha Kvaratskhelia because of how much they believe in Mykhaylo Mudryk, according to Fabrizio Romano.

Kvaratskhelia has been linked with Chelsea – and various other Premier League clubs – in recent weeks thanks to how much he impressed for Napoli on their journey to winning Serie A last season.

While their title defence has been shaky so far and already seems unlikely to be successful, Kvaratskhelia has still been in respectable form individually, with nine goal contributions from 18 appearances.

That is better than his direct counterpart on the left wing at Chelsea; Mudryk has contributed to just three goals from 13 appearances this term.

Behind the scenes, TEAMtalk has discovered that Mudryk is seriously impressing Chelsea, who are just waiting for him to fulfil his potential on the pitch.

And now, Romano has revealed that Chelsea’s faith in Mudryk for the long term has prompted them to step back in the race for Kvaratskhelia.

Speaking on his YouTube channel, Romano said: “From what I am hearing, Chelsea have not started any kind of contact for Kvaratskhelia. Not on the player’s side and not with Napoli, so the situation is completely quiet.

“Nothing is going to happen in January because Kvaratskhelia is not for sale in the January transfer window, and for Napoli, with the dangerous situation with Victor Osimhen, their idea is to keep Kvaratskhelia.

“At the moment, between Chelsea and Kvaratskhelia, there is absolutely nothing concrete in terms of negotiations or talks.

“Also because Chelsea’s position on Mykhaylo Mudryk remains clear. I’m still told that Chelsea really trust Mudryk and they believe he is going to be a crucial part of their project for the present and future.

“They trust him, they invested in him… [and they believe] he will perform at the top level, so they are protecting him and that’s why [despite] links with wingers who play on the left, this is not something Chelsea are obsessive with.”

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Mudryk could be at Chelsea for years

After beating Arsenal to Mudryk’s signature in January, Chelsea gave the 22-year-old a contract until 2031.

The length of Chelsea’s commitment to Mudryk indicates how much they believe in him for the future, even if it was partially designed as a Financial Fair Play workaround.

Kvaratskhelia, meanwhile, is expected to have earned himself a new contract at Napoli.

Quickly helping them move on from former captain Lorenzo Insigne, the Georgia international has already proven he deserves a better deal than the one currently tying him down until 2027.

It means that he might have been out of reach for Chelsea anyway if they were more interested.

But Napoli may still have to fend off interest from Chelsea in an attacker, since the aforementioned Osimhen is one of the Blues’ primary centre-forward targets.

TEAMtalk revealed earlier this month that Chelsea might be inclined to rush through a potential club-record deal for Osimhen due to fears about competition for the Nigerian superstar’s signature.