Chelsea abandon chase for one Brazilian born wing-back in favour of another for a third of the price.

According to various reports in the press, Chelsea have abandoned their year-long pursuit of Alex Sandro having baulked at the asking price from Juventus and have identified a Brazilian born Italian as the alternative - Emerson Palmieri. 

First and foremost I am overjoyed at the news and I have to be honest. While it's OK it's seems and totally acceptable for Manchester City to spend £50m on fullbacks this season, it does not sit right with me. Juventus are asking for over that amount to the tune of £65m for Alex Sandro and in my view that is ludicrous. 

As you can now imagine I am pleasantly surprised that we have to decided to look at an alternative over at Roma and someone who seems to have played under the radar somewhat until now. Having signed for Roma for just €2m  in a year ago, Chelsea have been reportedly been told that it will cost them just €20m to sign him. I have to admit I do not know that much about Emerson Palmieri so have taken to the Internet to do some research and he seems impressive for that price. 

Born in Brazil in August 1994, Palmieri played his football in his homeland and represented Brazil's under-17 team. In August 2014, at the age of 20 he was loaned to Palermo in Italy and mainly used as a backup player within their squad. Then subsequently loaned to Roma in August a year later in 2015 and eventually bought outright for that €2m fee in December 2016. 

Looking at Video's of his performances for Roma in their first team it's clear that he is a player who likes to get forward down that left-hand side and is not afraid of taking people on. He has pace in abundance, an excellent touch and can cross a ball which is ideal for a wing-back playing for us. I have not seen too much of him defensively just yet so the jury is out on that one. 

I have to say for what we are looking for right now, he would be the perfect solution for, let's face it, peanuts in this modern world of spending ridiculous money for players. I still personally think that Marcos Alonso should remain as our number one in that position and Emerson Palmieri would need to accept that for the remainder of the season if he were to sign. However, we do require competition for places down that side now. 

Check out a couple of videos of Palmieri and let me know what you think of him. There are reports that he could be included as part of a deal to bring a second signing in this January window from Roma to the club - Edin Dzeko for a combined fee of €50m.