Chelsea Fullback Will Not Leave for Cheap, Says Agent

Emerson Palmieri is once again a target for the top Serie A teams, but Chelsea will not just give him away for nothing despite his lack of playing time, his agent Fernando Garcia told FcInterNews: “He will not leave on a free loan in January. Possibly, Chelsea will want to monetize his departure and that is an issue for cash-strapped clubs. There have already been some inquiries, but I will not reveal by whom. We have not discussed his price tag.”

The 26-year-old has clearly fallen out of favor in London and has featured just five times in the season, failing to notch a single start in Premier League, being altogether excluded from the match-day squad lists more often than not. Over the last calendar year, he has been repeatedly linked to Inter, Juventus and Napoli.

Our view

Given his familiarity with Antonio Conte, Emerson would make a ton of sense for Inter if they moved on from Ivan Perisic. Juventus are also short-handed in that position too, having only youngster Gianluca Frabotta behind Alex Sandro, but their scheme is more fluid. Napoli instead are fairly deep with three options, Elseid Hysaj, Mario Rui and Faouzi Ghoulam, even though they are not particularly consistent. However, the Italian sides would probably pull the trigger only for deals with favorable formulas, which clashes with Chelsea’s wishes. His place within the Azzurri is not necessarily at risk, but surely coach Roberto Mancini would not mind if Emerson moved to a team where he would play more.