Agent insists no Chelsea contact for Benatia as Middlesbrough close in on Savilla, Bamford
The agent of AS Roma defender Mehdi Benatia insists there’s been no contact with Chelsea.
The Morocco international has been linked with a big money move to the Blues as their manager Jose Mourinho seeks a new centre-half signing.
However, agent Moussa Sissoko insists they’ve not heard from Chelsea.
He told TMW: “Benatia to Chelsea? Not true. For what concerns us, these are market rumours.
“Roma for his future? I would say yes.”
Middlesbrough boss Aitor Karanka has confirmed interest in two Chelsea loan signings.
Boro are chasing striker Patrick Bamford and midfielder George Saville as they bid to launch a Sky Bet Championship promotion campaign.
Karanka said: “We are improving every day and showing we are a good team, but I also want to sign more players.
“Maybe two or three more signings will be enough for me to have the squad that I want.
“We are not strong enough at the moment. I want players who can’t sleep because they are worried that someone else will take their place.
“I hope we will sign the two from Chelsea. The club are working on that, but we have got seven games in 22 days so I’m concentrating on the games.”
pls,mounriho,we dnt need defender,at all,i need more midfilders, and strikers,try to bring our missing players back ooooo,especially THE Great ”MATA”David Luiz,
I think Chelsea’s defense is good enough. Last season, Chelsea had the tightest defense in the Premier League conceding only 27 goals and one of the best in the whole of Europe and this was all achieved without David Luiz being a consistent starter so Luiz leaving actually makes us stronger like Mourinho said and with Zouma returning we have 3 options at centre-back, actually 4 since Ivanovic can also fit into that role alongside Cahill and Terry. Remember Andreas Christensen from the youth team which makes it 5 options at CB, though he will probably be played in the cup ties like the Capital One Cup. At left-back we have signed one of the key Atletico players from last season, Filipe Luis who will probably be the perfect replacement for Ashley Cole. At right-back we have Ivanovic. Then coming to Azpilicueta whose prefered position is right-back, but can also do a fantastic job at left-back as we saw last season. So in conclusion, I think Benatia will be a waste of money. No doubting his quality, but let’s face it, at Chelsea he just would not FIT. Also not forgetting Mikel in front of the back four who is just like Ciro Immobile’s last name: IMMOBILE, and one of last season’s revelations Nemanja Matic who was signed from Benfica just this January.