Back in mid February, a story emerged in the Italian press that Thomas Tuchel wanted Franck Kessiè at Chelsea.
It was said the Ivory Coast international was one the German manager ‘dreams of’ bringing to Stamford Bridge, and a realistic route to making that happen was available to him.
That came through Fikayo Tomori, who currently is on loan at Milan and one of Kessiè’s teammates, whom the Serie A side can bring in permanently if they spend €28m.
The math here is pretty easy, as the idea was to do a money + the centre-back deal, but it was labelled a ‘difficult operation’, because Stefano Pioli sees the midfielder as key to his plans.
Some of this has now been backed up by Sport Mediaset, relayed by Milan Live, with the outlet stating Chelsea and Real Madrid are the ‘main foreign teams who have put Kessiè in their line of sight ahead of the next transfer window’.
They then add the pair ‘have high financial resources’ that would allow them to get a deal done, also giving them the opportunity to offer the player ‘a rich contract’ alongside ‘very high level sporting prospects’.
Obviously, none of this is part of Milan’s plans, who want to keep Kessiè around, but it’s definitely worth keeping in mind, especially with Tuchel taking over at Chelsea midway through the season and inheriting a squad that wasn’t his.
Changes are likely coming at Stamford Bridge next summer, among which could be the Ivorian’s arrival.
