Transfer Rumour: Chelsea and Liverpool make enquiries for Inter Milan midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia
What’s the story
Chelsea and Liverpool are planning to sign Inter Milan midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia. According to France Football, both the Premier League clubs have made “timid” enquiries over the availability of the midfielder. Earlier in October, his agent Jonathan Maarek confirmed there will be several clubs interested in his services if he decides to leave San Siro.
“Kondogbia is certainly a top level player. He has a lot of quality and is very young, so obviously he has a lot of clubs interested in him. Can I name them? I will just say that he is not lacking interested clubs,” Maarek told Tuttomercatoweb.
In case you didn’t know
Kondogbia is of a Central African decent and was born in France’s Seine-et-Marne. He was signed by RC Lens’ youth system and after coming up through the ranks of the club, he broke into the first team.
The France international moved to Sevilla in 2012 and that is where he attracted interest from top clubs. A year after spending in Spain, he returned to Ligue 1 and joined AS Monaco. During his spell with the French outfit, he scored in Monaco’s 3-1 win over Arsenal in the Champions League that eliminated the Gunners out of the competition in 2015-16 season.
During his time in Italy, his temperament has come into question on numerous occasions. In one instance, he was sent off for bad temper and was handed a two-match ban for sarcastically applauding the referee.
Heart of the matter
The 23-year-old midfielder has started in 10 league matches for Inter this season. He has been used as a start-stop gap in the midfield. Kondogbia failed to cement a place under Frank de Boer, who was replaced by Stefano Pioli last November.
Even under Inter’s new manager, Kondogbia is not a regular inclusion in the starting lineup, despite making two starts in the last two matches. This has alerted both Liverpool and Chelsea, who have been chasing the midfielder.
Kondogbia is neither of the club’s priority targets and they could wait until the end of the January transfer window before making an approach.
What next
Should Liverpool or Chelsea fail to land Kondogbia in Janaury, he will be forced to wait until the end of the season before looking for a move away from his current employers. Also, if he puts his head down and continues to work hard at San Siro, he could become a regular at the Serie A outfit.
Sportskeeda’s take
Kondogbia should focus on improving his game as he still has several years of top flight football ahead of him. Changing clubs on a regular basis will not be a good option for the French midfielder.