Chelsea considering shock move for Swansea striker Fernando Llorente 
Matt Law, football news correspondent
6 JANUARY 2017 • 10:35AM
Chelsea are weighing up a surprise bid to sign Swansea City striker Fernando Llorente – even though the Blues are still not keen on loaning out Michy Batshuayi. Head coach Antonio Conte wants to strengthen his Premier League title-chasing squad this month with a midfielder and wing-back his top priorities.
But Conte is also considering a move for Llorente, who he managed at Juventus, on a short-term deal to provide back-up for top scorer Diego Costa. Conte is short of options should Costa get injured or banned over the second half of the season. When he missed one game through suspension, the Italian started Eden Hazard through the middle rather than 23-year-old Batshuayi.Young contract rebel Dominic Solanke has been on the bench a couple of times this season, but Conte does not believe he is ready for the first team which has prompted him to consider bringing in extra back-up.
Conte and Llorente spent a season together at Juve, in which the Spaniard scored 18 goals in all competitions, before Conte left to become the Italian national team manager. Llorente joined Swansea on a two-year deal last summer and has scored six goals in 13 starts, despite a frustrating time under sacked manager Bob Bradley. It remains to be seen whether new Swansea manager Paul Clement, who was a coach at Chelsea, would consider allowing Llorente to leave this month, although it is understood the 31-year-old would welcome the move.
Asked about Conte’s interest in him, Llorente said: “The truth is that I know nothing. Today I focus solely on Swansea in the complicated situation ahead.”
Batshuayi will hope to make only his fourth Chelsea start against Peterborough in the FA Cup on Sunday and Conte and the club still want him to stay at Stamford Bridge for the remainder of the season. The Belgian has become a loan target for a host of clubs at home and abroad, including West Ham United, because of his lack of playing time, but Chelsea believe it would be better for his development to stay with their first-team squad.
Chelsea are, however, also aware that the 23-year-old could still ask for a loan move to try to boost his confidence later in the January transfer window.
Another Chelsea player who is attracting a lot of interest is 20-year-old midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek, who has 12 clubs trying to sign him on loan this month.
One player who has left Chelsea is John Obi Mikel, who has followed Oscar to China where he has joined Tianjin TEDA.
In a statement, Mikel said: “As you will know, I haven't featured as much this season as I would have liked, and at 29 I still have many years in the game ahead of me.
“With this in mind, I feel now is the time to seek a new challenge. I'm delighted to be joining Tianjin TEDA FC in China, at a time that the Chinese Super League is really taking off, and I look forward to helping Tianjin TEDA FC continue to grow both on and off the pitch in the next few years.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/01/06/chelsea-considering-shock-move-swansea-striker-fernando-llorente/
