Chelsea are preparing to launch a €90m bid to acquire Josko Gvardiol from RB Leipzig at the end of the season.
Chelsea lost Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen on free transfers to Real Madrid and Barcelona earlier this summer, but have already spent more than €100m on defenders to take their place, and have signed Marc Cucurella from Brighton and Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli.
With Thiago Silva continuing to play at the center of their defense and Reece James able to deputize for their three centre-backs, the need for another central defender may not seem dire, but that hasn’t stopped Chelsea from looking for the young Croatian RB Leipzig player.
💭 Did you know… No player has played less than 2 ️⃣ 1 ️⃣ more minutes in # Bundesliga from josco #gvardiol. 📈 👏 pic.twitter.com/n8bu9s6XK3
– English Premier League (Bundesliga_EN) February 5 2022
“Chelsea are in advanced talks with RB Leipzig to sign Josko Gvardiol!” Transportation specialist Fabrizio Romano tweeted. “The deal will now be completed but with Gvardiol staying at RB Leipzig, he will join Chelsea in June 2023.
“An official offer of around €90m was made today. Negotiations are underway on the part of the clubs.”
Gvardiol extended his deal at the Red Bull Arena until 2026 this summer, ignoring the interest of Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur and others at the time, and has participated in all four of RB Leipzig’s Bundesliga matches this season, albeit only starting in one of them.
How good is Gvardiol?
A strong left-footed defender who is equally happy to play as a left-back in a four-man defense or a left-back in a three-man defence, Gvardiol joined RB Leipzig from Dinamo Zagreb in a €18.8m deal in 2020 and joined the side straight. .
Last season, the 20-year-old started 28 of a possible 34 matches in the Bundesliga, with RB Leipzig qualifying for the Champions League with a fourth place finish. Although Saxony were disappointed not to come close to Bayern, it was an individual success for Gvardiol.
He averaged more than five forward passes and carried every 90 minutes, and completed three interceptions and one dribble per game—putting him in the 90th percentile or better of every measure among players for his league position.
