Date: 31st May 2013 at 7:00pm
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Eliaquim-Mangala_0Porto centre-back Eliaquim Mangala is very much aware of Chelsea’s interest amid rumours that Jose Mourinho wants to sign him for the Stamford Bridge club.

The 22-year-old also admits that he flattered by the interest and the prospect of working with Chelsea’s manager-in-waiting:

“It’s flattering because Chelsea are a great club and Mourinho is a great coach.

“I intended to stay in Porto but you never know what will happen in football, especially when big clubs are involved.”

(Daily Express)

I’m sure that Mourinho would want to strengthen the defence as it was an area that we had trouble with last season, whilst he’ll likely require another central midfielder and a reliable forward. However, there are will be a few stumbling blocks if he does want to bring Mangala to West London.

Firstly and perhaps most crucially, the Frenchman currently has a release clause of around £30 million and even though the Express claim that Chelsea are confident of the deal it will be a challenge to get Porto to back down on price, especially after selling the likes of Joao Moutinho and James Rodriguez to mega-rich AS Monaco.

Mangala will also want guarantees on playing time as he will hope to play in the World Cup for France in the summer of 2014 and although he’ll stand a better chance breaking into the setup as a regular at Stamford Bridge, he may decide he is better off with the guarantees he already has.

AC Milan and Tottenham are also said to be keeping tabs on Mangala, so may jump in if Chelsea get involved and Porto would love for there to be a bidding war over the defender. I think it’s unlikely that he will become a Chelsea player this summer as his price-tag will likely put us off in the same way Schalke’s asking price for Kyriakos Papadopoulos turned us off him…assuming the reported interest was genuine in the first place.

Mangala played 29 times for the Portuguese league champions this season and scored 4 goals, and has represented France as an Under-21 international.

Source: Express

 

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