Despite having held talks with Dinamo Zagreb, Manchester United and Chelsea both look to be set to miss out on young Spanish midfielder, Dani Olmo. According to goal.com, Barcelona are the front-runners to sign Olmo, and believe a deal could be done for around £25million.
Olmo is a product of the famous Barcelona La Masia youth academy, but moved to Croatia to join Zagreb back in 2014. He’s been a major player for the Croatian champions ever since, and last season won both the player of the year AND young player of the year awards in the Croatian First Football League.
As a result of this form, both Chelsea and Manchester United have been long term admirers of his, and have both recently contacted Zagreb to ask about the possibility of bringing him to the Premier League.
It’s a little bit of a strange one as far as I’m concerned, especially where Chelsea are concerned. Given that Olmo plays mostly in an advanced midfield role, Chelsea seem like the worst possible option for him right now considering the form of Mason Mount – who plays in the same position.
Chelsea set with Mount?
I could have seen him moving to Man United, I think he would have fit in quite well there and significantly boosted their side. He would likely have played in a similar role to the one Andreas Pereira plays whenever he’s in the side – and would have been a significant upgrade in my personal opinion.
As it is, Barcelona seem the most likely destination now – with the Spanish giants confident they can land him at a cut price. I’m not so sure they will be able to do that though, the interest from big spending Premier League clubs will surely only drive the price up. According to the Goal.com report, Zagreb are holding out for somewhere closer to £35million, as opposed to the £25million Barca are currently proposing.
Either way, it seems this is yet another January target Chelsea are set to miss out on. The Blues boss Frank Lampard has already seen attempts to sign the likes of Jadon Sancho, Timo Werner and David Alaba fall flat – it remains to be seen what Chelsea will do in the rest of the window, but I doubt Dani Olmo will be coming in.
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