Chelsea loanee Saul Niguez is stuck between a rock and a hard place at the club in January as he’s already played for two clubs this season.
That’s according to AS, who cover the midfielder’s situation today and how he can’t move elsewhere in the January transfer window.
They explain that after being ‘untouchable’ for Diego Simeone at Atletico, Saul has found himself out of the picture at Chelsea this season.
He reached an agreement with Simeone last summer to leave the club after disagreements between the pair but only one team was interested, and so he joined Thomas Tuchel’s side at the end of the transfer window.
Things have not worked out at Stamford Bridge, though, with him failing to establish himself among the plethora of midfield options such as Mateo Kovacic, Jorginho and N’Golo Kante.
Even Ruben Loftus-Cheek has been more in favour than the Spaniard.
After making his debut against Aston Villa, a game in which he was removed at halftime, it took three months for him to get another start, and things have not improved since then.
He was a starter on Wednesday once again, but another poor performance and ‘frustrating’ night means his prospects are unlikely to improve.
AS say the midfielder is ‘in a labyrinth’ at the club, with that display in midweek, meaning he is ‘back to square one’.
The problem is he has ‘no other option’ because UEFA regulations prevent him from playing for a third European club this season.
That means any exit from Chelsea ‘is not feasible’ at this point, that is unless he was to return to the Wanda Metropolitano, which seems unlikely given the issues him and Simeone have had over the last year or so.
It seems, then, we can ignore any talk of him being sent elsewhere for the time being, with that off the table unless Chelsea intend to send him back to Atletico.
