Romano reveals Chelsea’s plan for new midfield signing

Chelsea will keep new signing Mathis Amougou around the first team until the summer, according to Fabrizio Romano.

It was not a busy January transfer window in terms of incomings at Chelsea. No blockbuster move for Alejandro Garnacho – or any other attackers – materialised, but the Blues did make one Deadline Day signing.

Chelsea wanted to add a young central midfielder to their ranks and they managed to do so with the arrival of Mathis Amougou from Ligue 1 side Saint-Etienne.

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The deal was not officially announced on Deadline Day, but the paperwork was completed in time, so Amougou will link up with Enzo Maresca’s squad shortly.

Chelsea agreed to pay a sizeable €15 million for the 19-year-old, who did lose his starting spot at ASSE in recent times. Nevertheless, Amougou is a highly-rated French youth international and could prove a valuable addition in the future.

Chelsea to loan Amougou to Strasbourg

There had been some confusion as to how exactly Chelsea were planning to use the new signing, but transfer insider Fabrizio Romano has now confirmed that he will remain in the first team at least until the summer.

BlueCo affiliate Strasbourg held an interest, and Saint-Etienne likely wouldn’t have been opposed to keeping him around until the end of the season either, but Chelsea only had a limited number of international loan spots which prevented them from agreeing a temporary exit.

Joao Felix, Axel Disasi, Ben Chilwell and Carney Chukwuemeka all completed Deadline Day loan exits from Stamford Bridge, which made a move of Amougou impossible and also ruined Aaron Anselmino’s proposed loan transfer to Olympique de Marseille.

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Romano reports that Amougou will remain with Chelsea until the end of the season and then likely join Strasbourg on loan to replace Andrey Santos, the Blues midfielder who has been excelling in France.

The Brazilian will return to Chelsea in the summer and be part of Maresca’s squad. Keeping him around was already an option under consideration last year, but it was ultimately agreed that a second loan spell at Strasbourg would be better for his development.