Chelsea miss €25m open goal with Gosens
James Shearman
- Updated: 26 Jan 2022 18:33 GMT
- 3 min read
Atalanta wing-back Robin Gosens is expected to undergo a medical with Serie A rivals Inter on Thursday ahead of completing a €25million (£21m) move.
According to reports, the move will start off as a loan, with an obligation to buy at the end of the season.
Gosens' team have agreed a salary of €2.5m per year, plus bonuses, which has enticed him to make the switch.
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Newcastle United had offered both Atalanta and Gosens larger sums to secure a move but the German had no interest in taking part in a Premier League relegation battle.
Instead, the 27-year-old will battle for domestic titles at San Siro for the foreseeable future.
However, one Premier League club that could, surely, have convinced Gosens to leave Italy is Chelsea.
Why did Chelsea not sign Gosens?
An ACL injury to Ben Chilwell in November has ruled the Englishman out for the remainder of the 2021/22 season.
As a result, Chelsea have been limited in the left wing-back position, with only Marcos Alonso fully comfortable in the role.
And it has been blatantly obvious for quite some time that the Spaniard is not up to playing week-in-week-out for a team with title aspirations anymore.
Robin Gosens to Inter, here we go! Agreement reached with Atalanta. Loan with obligation to buy for €25m add ons included. Personal terms agreed. ⚫️🔵 #Inter
Gosens will sign his contract in the coming hours. Deal sealed and completed. He joins Inter immediately - in January. pic.twitter.com/U0jpjplIEr— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 26, 2022
According to reports, the Blues have been looking at wing-backs in the January transfer window, such as Borna Sosa, but to no avail.
They have also attempted to bring Emerson back early from his loan spell at Lyon.
Yet, Gosens' name has, strangely, not been heavily linked with a move to Stamford Bridge at any point this month.
That comes as a surprise given that the Atalanta defender would be a perfect fit to take over from Alonso until the end of the season and compete with Chilwell in the next.
Gosens plays as a wing-back in Atalanta's 3-4-2-1, in a similar kind of system that Thomas Tuchel often uses at Chelsea. Over the last three years he has been among the highest scoring and creating full-backs in Europe. Last season, the German had 11 goals and eight assists, the season before that he had 10 and seven, respectively.
He was also one of the best in his position at Euro 2020, despite Germany's early exit.
There is no guarantee that Chilwell will return the same player, so Gosens could have been nailed on to start for much longer than the next six months.
But, it appears the west London club are unwilling to spend this month, which is effectively giving up on the chance to win the Premier League or Champions League title - a poor decision from Marina Granovskaia and the Chelsea hierarchy.
