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Chelsea move in on overrated midfield target

By Rucker Haringey

ROME, ITALY - JANUARY 17: AS Roma player Radja Nainggolan celebrates the goal during the Serie A match between AS Roma and Hellas Verona FC at Stadio Olimpico on January 17, 2016 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Luciano Rossi/AS Roma via Getty Images)
ROME, ITALY - JANUARY 17: AS Roma player Radja Nainggolan celebrates the goal during the Serie A match between AS Roma and Hellas Verona FC at Stadio Olimpico on January 17, 2016 in Rome, Italy. (Photo by Luciano Rossi/AS Roma via Getty Images) /
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Chelsea have entered intense negotiations with Roma over a transfer for Radja Nainggolan

New Chelsea manager Antonio Conte is probably thrilled to know that his club’s talks with Roma over the future of midfielder Radja Nainggolan are progressing well. After all, the Belgian midfielder is one of his top transfer targets. The question is, can Nainggolan really help Chelsea challenge for a Premier League title?

Reports from Italy claim that Chelsea and Roma are engaged in dialogue over the player’s future, but no final decisions are likely to be made until the conclusion of Euro 2016. Nainggolan’s Belgian squad have advanced past the group stage, and have enough ability to make a run to the Finals.

Chelsea will be happy to wait that long for discussions to conclude given Conte’s obvious affinity for the athletic midfielder. He’s certainly seen a lot of him during his time in Italy, but I’m very skeptical of Nainggolan’s ability to really move the needle in the Blues’ midfield.

He was a good midfielder in Serie A for Roma last season, but we’re not talking about anything special. He paled in comparison to teammate Miralem Pjanic, and only managed to register a Whoscored.com player rating of 7.03 for the season. That mark was only good for ninth on his own squad. Again, we’re talking about Roma here, they aren’t exactly Barcelona.

The potential transfer also worries me due to the player’s age. Nainggolan is a midfielder that depends almost exclusively on his athleticism to be effective. He isn’t the sort of player that’s going to age gracefully and rely on his skill to supplement losing a little quickness. That makes buying him at 28-years-old a little troubling too.

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Ultimately, this deal would be a lot more palatable if it wasn’t being seen as one of the key transfers of the summer for Chelsea. Nainggolan can do an adequate job in Conte’s midfield, but he isn’t going to really stand out against top-level Premier League competition.

You can also bet that Roma won’t be pricing him like a slightly above average Premier League midfielder. They know how desperate Conte is to bring him to England and they’re going to make Chelsea pay through the nose for that privilege. I might like this deal at 10 million pounds, but I really detest it in the 30 million pound range it’s likely to cost the club.

Purchasing Radja Nainggolan isn’t the cure for any of the troubles Chelsea have in the midfield. Fans at Stamford Bridge should hope that Conte has some more purchases up his sleeve this summer.

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