Radja Nainggolan’s Instagram activity has sparked off transfer speculations linking the Belgium international to the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United. The 29-year-old’s reply to his Roma teammate, Kevin Strootman’s farewell message to Antonio Rudiger, hoping the German would be the last player to swap the Roma shirt for another club’s, has put agents and clubs interested in the midfield destroyer on alert.
Nainggolan replied, “I don’t know” to Strootman’s “I hope that this will be the last goodbye of this summer” and has set tongues wagging.
While the Roma midfielder might have made the retort with tongue firmly in cheek, newspaper back-pages and sports tabloids are putting that possibility on hold, as they float a sensational transfer story.
The move for the Roma midfielder makes sense for a lot of clubs who are interested in securing the Belgian’s signature owing to his supreme ability to break up play in the middle of the park coupled with his contribution to the attack. Squawka translates for us in numbers, what makes Nainggolan such a long-pursued target by the likes of Antonio Conte et al.
Radja Nainggolan's Serie A season by numbers:
1509 passes
90 shots
68 chances created
57 tackles won
11 goals
5 assistsDoes it all. 🤘 pic.twitter.com/ai0Y5o6Jv3
— Squawka (@Squawka) June 24, 2017
With Nathaniel Chalobah on his way to Watford and Nemanja Matic also on his way out to, possibly Manchester United or Inter Milan, Conte would want to refurbish Chelsea’s midfield options. Even with the virtual confirmation of Tiemoue Bakayoko’s imminent arrival, the 22-year-old’s fitness is likely an issue and could see him miss the start of the season.
Under the circumstances, it isn’t hard to see why Chelsea’s Italian manager would be interested in a player of the Belgian’s calibre. Nainggolan is seemingly an upgrade over Nemanja Matic with the Roma midfielder boasting a much superior eye for goal as is evident from his 11 goals in Serie A as compared to Matic’s solitary goal for Chelsea vs Middlesbrough in the league.
The Serbian is marginally better than Nainggolan when it comes to assists, with his 7 to Nainggolan’s 5. Matic also boasts a superior pass completion percentage compared to the Belgian. But it is the latter’s industry and willingness to commit to tackles that see Nainggolan edge past Matic.
While it remains to be seen whether or not the 29-year-old can be lured to Stamford Bridge or Old Trafford, with Jose Mourinho also interested in the player, the fact that Nainggolan has all the attributes to be phenomenal in the Premier League is beyond doubt.
Jose Mourinho’s plans to bolster his midfield seem to have hit a brick wall. They have so far failed in their attempts to secure the signings of AS Monaco’s Fabinho and Tottenham’s Eric Dier. Dealing with Daniel Levy is the stuff of nightmares with Sir Alex Ferguson famously commenting that his hip replacement was less painful than his attempts to bring Dimitar Berbatov to the club.
Mourinho had set his sights on Nemanja Matic in the wake of his primary transfer targets not leading to anywhere substantial. With United stealing Lukaku under the noses of Chelsea, The London club understood to be open to letting Matic join his former boss, have become apprehensive of the idea in the fears of strengthening a Premier League club further and might be more open to selling the Serbian to Inter Milan who are also reportedly interested.
Mourinho, under the circumstances, might as well try and lure Nainggolan out of Rome in what could turn out to be one of the most influential transfers of the window.
