According to a report from Sky Sports, José Mourinho is targeting Sevilla’s Yevhen Konoplyanka with a potential bid lined up in January as Chelsea seek to turn around their season.
Mourinho was pictured in the stands as Spain defeated Ukraine 1-0 in a chilly Kiev, courtesy of Mario Gaspar’s first-half header. Originally rumours swirled across social media that Mourinho was scouting Andriy Yarmolenko of Dynamo Kyiv.
Yet also present at the match was Shakhtar Donetsk’s long-time serving manager, Mircea Lucescu, who may have exchanged a word or two with Mourinho. Lucescu:
Mourinho is interested in Yevhen Konoplyanka. I was at Ukraine versus Spain with Mourinho and he is interested in some players.
The Ukraine winger nearly joined Liverpool for £16 million in January 2014, only for Dnipro Club President, Ihor Kolomoyskyi, to refuse to recognise Konoplyanka’s buyout clause. Subsequently Konoplyanka ran down his contract and joined Unai Emery’s Sevilla on a free transfer in the summer.
With Chelsea’s attacking midfielders severely underperforming this season, Willian being the obvious exception, a move for Konoplyanka would be hardly unforeseen. Indeed, Mourinho recently dropped Eden Hazard in Chelsea’s 2-0 victory over Aston Villa, publicly criticising last season’s PFA Player of the Year for a lack of effort.
However given the recent nature of Konoplyanka’s move to Spain, it appears unlikely that a move to West London would come to fruition in the near future. Moreover, the Ukrainian would be cup-tied for the Champions League having already appeared in the competition this season for Sevilla.
