Romano reveals TRUTH behind Chelsea's wonderkid pursuit
Tom Weber
- Updated: 6 Sep 2023 10:45 CDT
- 3 min read
Fabrizio Romano has revealed that Chelsea were never close to signing Rayan Cherki this summer.
The Lyon youngster has emerged as one of Europe's biggest and most unique talents in recent times. The 20-year-old recorded four goals and six assists last term, which attracted the interest of some of the world's premier sides.
Chelsea were among them. Indeed, reports at various times over the summer even suggested that the Blues were close to landing the attacking midfielder as Lyon were trying to raise funds. Cherki, for his part, wouldn't have been averse to making the switch to Stamford Bridge.
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In an old YouTube video that resurfaced amid the rumours linking him to Chelsea, the Lyon native picked the Blues over Manchester United, which further stoked the speculation around a supposedly imminent move.
Nothing materialised, however, and Fabrizio Romano has now revealed why.
What did Romano say?
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Romano said of Chelsea's Cherki pursuit - or lack thereof: "Honestly, from what I'm told, Chelsea had only one conversation with Olympique Lyon discussing about [Bradley] Barcola, Cherki, asking for the conditions of a potential deal, so just to be informed on a potential deal."
"But they never met Lyon to make a bid or start the negotiation or to have something concrete for Rayan Cherki. So, from what I'm told, Chelsea were not working on a Cherki deal and they never considered him as a target or a top player on the [short]list."
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"He's always been monitored, but we know that Chelsea follow the best talents in the world including Cherki, as many others, but they never made anything concrete to sign Cherki. So, it was never something close or concrete. Also on the player's side, his decision was not to move this summer, but probably in 2024 it could be a possibility."
