Chelsea ‘INTENSIFY pursuit’ of Adam Wharton after double injury blow

Chelsea are ‘intensifying their pursuit’ of Crystal Palace midfielder Adam Wharton amid the injury struggles of Romeo Lavia and Dario Essugo, according to a report.

On paper, the Blues have an absolutely stacked midfield. Moises Caicedo has shown that the then-British record fee of up to €134 million he cost in 2023 was money well spent, while Enzo Fernandez has also massively improved since his early struggles.

Andrey Santos is being backed by the Chelsea hierarchy to become a superstar in the future, with club officials having turned down a €70 million summer bid from Al-Qadsiah for him.

Dario Essugo has joined from Sporting CP with huge potential after impressing on loan at struggling Las Palmas last term, while Romeo Lavia has shown himself to be a very good Premier League midfielder – when fit.

However, the problem with Lavia is that he has repeatedly struggled with injury issues. He is currently recovering from a fresh problem, while Essugo has suffered a long-term injury that has now seen him replaced in Chelsea’s Champions League squad by Facundo Buonanotte.

Chelsea to sign Wharton in January?

According to TEAMtalk, Lavia’s repeated injury struggles are proving particularly frustrating, so much so that the Blues are actively looking to sign a new midfielder in January.

The report claims that the Stamford Bridge club are ‘intensifying their pursuit’ of Crystal Palace star Adam Wharton, who is also admired by Man Utd and Real Madrid.

Wharton was initially pencilled in as a summer target, but it is now claimed that Chelsea are not ruling out moving for him as early as January to try and beat the competition to the punch.

Whether Palace would be willing to do business mid-season is a different question altogether, but it is expected that Wharton will be one to watch next year.

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