osko Gvardiol has opened up on Chelsea’s pursuit of his signature, seemingly providing renewed hope {that a} deal may but come to fruition.
The RB Leipzig centre-back has established a fame as one among European soccer’s most sought-after defenders following a superb World Cup with Croatia, who reached the semi-finals earlier than sealing the bronze medal in Qatar with the assistance of a objective from the masked Gvardiol within the third-place play-off win over Morocco.
Such constantly robust performances – Lionel Messi nightmare towards Argentina within the final 4 apart – solely served to additional vastly embellish the fast-rising fame of the completed 20-year-old, who had lengthy been on the radar of the continent’s main golf equipment.
Chelsea are recognized to be long-term admirers of Gvardiol, with Manchester Metropolis and Tottenham additionally closely linked together with the likes of Actual Madrid.
Nevertheless, a transfer didn’t find yourself materialising as anticipated within the final switch window, with the Blues since having agreed a deal to take his Leipzig team-mate Christopher Nkunku – at the moment the Bundesliga’s prime scorer – to Stamford Bridge in the summertime.
Lengthy-term goal: RB Leipzig star Josko Gvardiol has addressed switch hyperlinks to Chelsea
/ Getty PhotosAdditionally they signed defender Wesley Fofana in a £75million cope with Leicester final summer time earlier than not too long ago including one other centre-back with the £33m arrival of Benoit Badiashile from Monaco.
However Gvardiol – stated to be valued at a whopping £110m by Leipzig – doesn’t seem to have closed the door on his personal potential swap to Chelsea, having seemingly been given assurances over a mid-season exit from Leipzig regardless of solely signing a brand new contract lasting till 2027 again in September.
“They [Chelsea] did not give up, but it was agreed that we would go for the winter,” he advised RTL Danas in Croatia. “Winter has come, so we need to see what and how to proceed, but it’s okay, there’s still plenty of time, we’ll see.”
He added: “I’m not in a hurry. I’m in Leipzig, we still have six months to finish the season properly and to win something. And then we will look further to the future.”
Not a lot has been talked about by means of potential Liverpool curiosity in Gvardiol, with Jurgen Klopp at the moment being implored to instigate an overdue strengthening of his midfield choices after finishing the early £44m signing of huge ahead Cody Gakpo from PSV Eindhoven.
Nevertheless, Virgil van Dijk is now believed to be going through greater than a month on the sidelines with a hamstring damage and Gvardiol has named the Reds as his dream membership.
“Since I was little, I watched a lot of Liverpool matches with my dad, and we covered every season in detail. It is a club that has remained in my heart,” he stated.
