At the end of September Le10 Sport magazine reported that Chelsea were set to move into the market as soon as the winter transfer window opened and were prepared offer up to €30m to persuade Marseille to sell them 21 year old Giannelli Imbula. The transfer would be unusual because he only joined the club from Guingamp at the end of July for a comparatively small €7.5m, probably why Chelsea would have to overpay a little.
Imbula is contracted until 2018 and it would take a decent offer to make Marseille part with him but the worry in France over the 75% tax rate could play a part. Ligue 1 clubs plan to strike over the last weekend in November but whatever they do it looks unlikely the French government will give football a special exception. With many players n the continent guaranteed their wages after tax, it means a big bill for clubs and the sale of Imbula would pay Marseille's bill for a couple of years.
In October Chelsea scout Guy Hilton, spoke to L'Equipe and said of Imbula "It is true (how good he is), Imbula has the potential to compete at the highest level."
Hilton also said that Imbula is a very high quality player and can start attacks as well as providing protection and strength in the middle. That gave even more strength to Le10's original claim and today Mercato365, also in France, said that Chelsea sent someone to watch Marseille's game against Rennes today.
With Imbula's growing reputation and the Europe-wide shortage of true top class battling midfielders, Chelsea will be working to gain an advantage ahead of the window, and ahead of any bid. They'd probably want to know how much the player fancies the move too, and make enquiries to see if Marseille have a price in mind.
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