Chelsea set to miss out on highly rated Brazilian

Chelsea had looked as if they had completed a deal with Metalist Kharkiv for their forward, Taison Freda, but now look set to lose out to Shakhtar Donetsk.

The Blues had agreed terms with the player last week, and was all set to raise their initial £8.4Million bid up to the £11M requested by the Ukrainian club.

Metalist’s new owner Serhiy Kurchenko appears to be the new stumbling block for the deal, with his proposed dis-like of Chelsea oligarch Roman Abramovich. Kurchenko purchased Taison’s club from owner Oleksandr Yaroslavsky who had been assisting the Blues in their bid to sign the Brazilian.

Chelsea will now have to meet the release clause in the attacking midfielder’s contract for the deal to go any further, which is thought to be around the £12.5Million mark. Shakhtar Donetsk are the latest team to make an approach for the player, and are now favourites for his signature.

Abramovich will not have liked being messed around, and may decide to splash his cash elsewhere, with Marouane Fellaini being heavily linked with the club for some time.

The Belgian is very ambitious, and is currently Everton’s top goalscorer despite claiming he is best as a defensive midfielder.

Fellaini is apparently available for £25Million due to a clause in his contract, and Chelsea are keen to add to their creative midfield.

The Blues are all set to let Frank Lampard leave the club at the end of the season, leaving a large hole in the squad as well as in the hearts of all Chelsea fans. Lampard is considered a legend at Stamford Bridge, having won every club competition open to English teams apart from the World Club Cup.

Chelsea won’t mind spending £12.5Million on the player should they rate the player high enough, but Roman is very stubborn and may wish to do business elsewhere. I would rather see a more established player arrive at Stamford Bridge however, such as Willian or Fellaini.

If Shakhtar were to complete the signing of Taison, that may allow us more leverage in our attempts to sign Willian, with the attacking midfielder already declaring his wish to join the Premier League. I would love to see the Shakhtar forward arrive, but who knows what is going on inside Roman’s head…