'Emerged today': Chelsea could 'resurrect' transfer for 'fantastic' Man City player

Chelsea could 'resurrect' transfer hopes of signing Manchester City youngster Nico O'Reilly today with mutterings of interest in the young midfielder still existing at Stamford Bridge.

The Blues are focused on outgoings today with Carney Chukwuemeka, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall and Ben Chilwell all linked with moves away from west London. However, there are still some murmurings of potential arrivals at Stamford Bridge.

Chelsea host West Ham in the Premier League tonight but there is still time for action behind-the-scenes when it comes to transfers and that could come in a move for O'Reilly.

Chelsea linked with Deadline Day transfer

The Blues had been linked with interest in the player earlier this month but those reports had died down. Speaking on Sky Sports News today, correspondent Ben Ransom said: "A word on a Manchester City midfielder that has emerged today, I'm told that Nico O'Reilly is a player that Chelsea had an interest in to the point where they approached Manchester City a bit earlier in this window to see if they could do a permanent deal this month.

"The 19-year-old only made his Premier League debut this year, obviously Chelsea had great success when they took Cole Palmer from Manchester City first team, but negotiations broke down I'm told because Manchester City were insisting on a buy back option and Chelsea did not want to put that into any deal so, at that point talks broke down, but could that be something that gets resurrected in the final few hours of this window?"

The 19-year-old has only featured six times for Pep Guardiola's senior side but his potential has turned heads. Any Chelsea move would feel very similar to the signing of Cole Palmer from their Premier League rivals for £40 million in 2023.

O'Reilly made his first team debut for Man City in the Community Shield against Manchester United last August. He made his Premier League debut against Ipswich Town this month and scored his first senior goal against Salford in the FA Cup recently.

Praise for Man City starlet Nico O’Reilly

O'Reilly featured for the first team during pre-season action last summer and was praised by former City winger Shaun Wright-Phillips for his performance against FC Barcelona, in which he scored a ‘fantastic’ goal. He said: “One of the other standout players for me was Nico [O’Reilly]. I’ve been watching him, Joleon [Lescott] told me about him to start with, and I’ve been keeping an eye on him. But this third game, he kind of just became a man very quickly.

“Barcelona is probably the toughest challenge we’ve had in terms of football, the chances the create and the way they play. And if you look at the first 15 minutes, there was a passage of play they did in the first four minutes and me and Joelon looked at each other and were like ‘wow’.

“But then our boys just took care of it. After that happened it was all Man City. And we could have been at some point 4-1 up in the first half but the chances weren’t going in for us. But to see the way we played it looked like we are halfway ready and we only got like what 45% of the first-team there.”

In other news, West Ham and Everton have been beaten to the signing of an in-demand Chelsea midfielder.