Chelsea and Arsenal go for Palermo's star midfielder Ilicic

Chelsea will have to fight Premier League giants Arsenal and Tottenham for the signature of Palermo’s Josip Ilicic. The 23-year-old Slovenian attacking midfielder impressed at Palermo and after only 14 months played at the club he is most likely to leave soon according to the Daily Mail.

The 23-year-old is a very important part of the Slovenian senior national squad, and since he joined Palermo he managed to star in 50 games for the Italian Serie A squad.

He joined in July 2010 from Portuguese side Maribor for a modest fee of £2.3 million, but now Palermo have a £30 million price tag on him. His price growth was not one due to his efforts purely, the massive interest from all sorts of big clubs “pumped up” his price.

It’s less like he’ll end up to be sold for such a big fee, but Palermo will probably get at least two thirds of that for the player if he will leave in January. Chelsea seems like the most viable destination for the player, but all three clubs are keeping a very close eye on him for now.