Chelsea winger target goes vroom vroom

Chelsea are probably not going to execute Jadon Sancho’s purchase option, on account of him looking a bit slow these days. Ukraine Bolt is still suspended after testing positive for a banned substance. You don’t need me to tell you that they’re going to buy a very silly amount of players this summer, but the one that they genuinely do need is a fast winger.

Enter 19-year-old Jesús Rodríguez of Real Betis. Chelsea have recently stepped up their interest in him, according to Simon Jones of the Daily Mail. And Rodríguez might have my favorite radar of any player we’ve looked at on this newsletter recently.

No shoot. No pass. Only run. 99th percentile dribble and carry OBV, 99th percentile fouls drawn. Hell yeah.

Would this be a good signing for Chelsea? I’m unconvinced, if I’m being honest and dropping the bit for a second. It’s hard to envision a winger with only a half season of La Liga experience and very few goals or assists making an immediate impact for the Blues in the Premier League. Rodríguez is, at present, a highlights player who doesn’t actually do anything.

But guys with 99th percentile dribbling skill have a hell of a lot more potential to turn into productive attackers than guys who don’t have that. And isn’t this just a perfectly on-brand Chelsea signing? They love guys who aren’t good enough right now, but have one elite skill or characteristic that means they could be in the future. It’s just such a believable rumour.

More fun with transfer rumours

• Other guys Chelsea are interested in: Jules Kounde and Georginio Rutter. Both believable targets and good enough to help Chelsea, but they’ll be extremely expensive. Maybe they’ll try to act like they sold Cole Palmer to a subsidiary who loaned him back to Chelsea to balance the books.

• Fab says Man City is going to push hard for Spurs left back Destiny Udogie, while Florian Plettenberg says City will be told to do one. It’ll be interesting to see if Spurs have the ability to keep the vultures away from their good players this summer after a poor campaign and presumably a coaching change.

• We’ve gone through yet another cycle of Ruben Amorim dropping a player for poor performance and/or attitude, realizing that player’s backup absolutely sucks, then re-instating that player. André Onana will return to goal on Thursday after Altay Bayındır had a shocker against Newcastle, but United now look like they’ll be shopping for a new goalkeeper this summer.
  
  The rumoured targets are Brighton’s Bart Verbruggen and Parma’s Zion Suzuki, suggesting the United recruitment department has a type. Both are 22, elite at claims, and pretty meh as shot-stoppers.

• Today I saw a bunch of instances of guys getting shopped around too young. Rudi Galetti is doing PR for a 15-year-old, 16-year-old Barca B prospect Guille Fernández wants to leave to get first team football, and big Prem clubs are eying up 17-year-old Sunderland star Chris Rigg. If I was advising any of these guys, I’d tell them to stay put for another year or two. They’re in good situations, and the data we have suggests they have a ton of developing left to do before they make a big step up.

• Newcastle have signed 18-year-old Antonio Cordero on a free from Malaga, and he looks like more of a raw prospect than someone who can make their squad next year. Expect a loan, followed by a re-evaluation next summer.

• I laughed out loud at this tweet. Imagine Liverpool buying Palhinha. Good lord. Get ready to learn Arabic, buddy.

• Tuttomercato says Man United are in “pole position” to sign Ederson from Atalanta, which I struggle to believe because I have been conditioned to believe they can’t make good signings. This is the kind of all-around midfielder they need very badly.

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