Chelsea are in negotiations with Ligue 1 side Stade Rennais over the signing of France-born Nigerian midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu.
L’Équipe reported in June that Ugochukwu was attracting interest from Premier League clubs.
Whilst West Ham United are interested in tje 19-year-old, it is Chelsea who have opened negotiations with Rennes.
According to L’Équipe, Chelsea have been in discussions for about 10 days for the midfielder, whose contract with the Ligue 1 club runs until the summer of 2025.
The Blues are looking to strengthen their midfield following a spate of departures in this area of the pitch.
Jorginho left in January for Arsenal, whilst Mateo Kovacic, Mason Mount and Ruben Loftus-Cheek have all left in the current transfer window.
The Stamford Bridge club are still pushing for the arrival of Brighton’s Moises Caicedo, although negotiations are proving difficult.
Ugochukwu started just 14 Ligue 1 games last season and found game time difficult to come by in the latter part of the season.
Born in France, he is the nephew of former Rennes and Super Eagles defender Onyekachi Apam.
Also, he has appeared for France U-18 and U-19 national teams.
3 Comments
LET’S QUICKLY CAP him now before WE LOSE him like SAKA, ALABA etc
Abi @UGO what do THINK? Hahahahahahaha
I heard it is a done deal already as reported by sky sports news. I personally called for the SE eagles handlers to bring this player to the SE fold but as usual, they are utterly clueless. If he goes on to become an amazing player, the NFF will start scrambling for him but then, a lot would have changed, he will be playing for a big club in Europe, France and in top competitions, you ain’t getting him period!
At a time when our midfield appears fragile and we are not scouting for possible alternatives, shocking! SE is one injury away from utter disaster in the midfield. If anything happens to Iwobi in the AM role, it is curtains! Yet both the gaffer and the NFF are not doing anything to rectify that. How these guys earn salaries on the back of doing absolutely nothing is just crazy. The goal keeping department and midfield are our weakest areas, yet NFF and Peseiro are doing nothing about it. I would not be surprised if Uzoho retains his spot once he returns to the team despite letting the team down over and over again. Today, we eulogise Enyeama but it was coach Onigbinde who gave him his first break and the rest they say is history. In a team that is improving and evolving, there should be several moving parts. Players should tried and tested till the team attains perfection. That was how the USA 94 team was built but sadly we have derailed from that successful model. Westerhof kept chopping and changing till he had a near unbeatable squad. Unfortunately, the model we have now is we keep playing players like Musa who is obviously past his best and keep young hungry players like gift orban out of the squad and yet hopeful for success….Ludicrous. As they say, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.
You have said it all….. Success comes with trying new things….God bless you.