Antonio Conte finally has some transfers sanctioned late in the window when he brought in Olivier Giroud for £17m from Arsenal and Emerson Palmieri in a £26m deal from Roma, but perhaps the Brazilian wasn’t his preferred left-back target.
Earlier in January, Porto left-back Alex Telles was suggested as a possible option for Chelsea after they admitted defeat in their pursuit of Juventus star Alex Sandro, and recent reports have suggested that maybe Telles was Chelsea’s first fallback as opposed to Palmieri.
Portuguese source Record, as cited by Sport Witness, report that Chelsea saw a €20m bid rejected for Telles late in the transfer window as they were seeking a fee closer to his €40m release clause to part ways with the defender, which may have prompted them to end their interest in the former Gremio standout.
Chelsea ultimately agreed a deal worth a potential £26m with Roma for Emerson Palmieri on transfer deadline day and the 23-year-old could make his Blues debut tonight against Watford.
