Chelsea are reportedly in pole position to land Nice midfielder Jean-Michael Seri. The player is in high demand this season after impressing for the Ligue 1 side. He has made 30 league appearances for Nice this season and has been extremely impressive. The 26-year-old has 18 national team appearances for Ivory Coast so far. For Nice, he has scored two goals and helped the French side finished 6th this season.
It is being reported that two English clubs are behind his signature. Arsenal chiefs have apparently held talks with the player and are planning to make the deal happen but as it happens that they might get beaten to the race by their London rivals Chelsea. Both clubs are out of the UEFA Champions League for the next season, having finished 5th and 6th in the league this season and will have to be content with playing in the Europa League.
Seri is an extremely athletic midfield player with a battery to run for 90 minutes. He can put in energetic performances day in day out for his side and is a tough player to get past. He has mastered the role of playing as a number 8 and is one of the better modern day box to box players. He can tackle, intercept and read the game well and is excellent at harassing the opponent to knock them off the ball. On the ball, he is smart and guile enough to get past players. He can pass it short and long and can come up with the odd goal.
As for Chelsea, the Blues have a talented squad but lack in depth in midfield. As of now, they have four first team midfielders in N’Golo Kante, Cesc Fabregas, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Danny Drinkwater. Ross Barkley can also play as a makeshift central midfielder with Ruben Loftus-Cheek also ready to join up this summer.
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However, apart from Kante, no other player is strong enough to command a starting role in the 3-4-3 system. Cesc Fabregas comes the closest with his excellent passing and creating abilities but the Spaniard is not physically strong enough or tactically smart to defend the midfield line. This has left an obvious hole in Chelsea’s midfield and Kante lacks an ideal midfield partner. The signature of Seri could prove to be the missing piece in the jigsaw for Chelsea and they should definitely vie for his signature in the transfer market.
