Labeled as AC Milan’s ‘luxury’ January signing ever since Antonio Conte placed him on the bench at the start of the season, Cesc Fabregas’ Italian destination has changed.
According to Il Tempo on Monday, the former Arsenal star could, instead of leaving Stamford Bridge to team up with Vincenzo Montella, end up at Luciano Spalletti’s AS Roma.
The 29-year-old, who made his second start of the season in the Premier League against Manchester City last week, has played very little this season, and the Italian newspaper claim a move to the capital could be tempting.
Were Chelsea to place the midfielder on the transfer list in the coming weeks, Roma feel like they would have an advantage on the lurking AC Milan to lure the player on loan until the end of the season, mostly due to the relationship between the Serie A side and Marina Granovskaia, Roman Abramovich’s close senior adviser.
Of course, any deal made with Chelsea could see some ‘favouritism’ being included, with both Antonio Rüdiger and Radja Nainggolan targets for the Premier League club, in a ‘you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours’ arrangement, which could benefit both parties in the long run.
As for the player’s wages, Roma would only be prepared cover €3m of his €6m/year salary, but such discussions are yet to take place.
Finally, the opportunity to team up once again with former teammates Mohamed Salah, Wojciech Szczesny and Thomas Vermaelen is another positive Il Tempo are considering falls in Roma’s favour.
Fabregas’ future has been a topic of discussions since September, and we fully expect it to continue that way all the way through January, until either something gets done or the transfer window closes, in which case, it’ll continue until next summer too.
