Chelsea are set to move for Wolverhampton Wanderers star Ruben Neves in January, with Thomas Tuchel growing impatient with on-loan Saul Niguez.
That's according to Todofichajes, who claim the Portuguese midfielder has been requested personally by Tuchel, as he looks to reshape his midfield and give added thrust to the side.
The Blues have gone off the boil of late, conceding more goals and struggling to put the ball in the back of the net. While the club have a mini-crisis with their defensive options all running down their contracts, however, Tuchel believes it is a priority to address the midfield.
Though the midfield has been thought to be one of the more stable areas of the side, Chelsea have looked poor without Mateo Kovacic in the team.
The west Londoners have plenty of options in the middle and have tried different partnerships in midfield this season.
Jorginho and N'Golo Kante remain the first-choice central midfielders in the side. Both offer plenty experience and differing qualities – but both players compliment each other nicely. Kante has struggled with injuries as he's got older, however, and may be slowing down slightly.
Behind those two, Ruben Loftus-Cheek has emerged again in the team under Tuchel, while Ross Barkley has featured a few times this season as well. The Blues also have Billy Gilmour out on loan at Norwich City. Saul is currently at the club from Atletico Madrid but has massively underperformed so far.
While Neves would not necessarily command a place in the starting XI immediately, he offers a lot of the qualities that Jorginho does, along with a superior long shot, a better passing range and can dictate the tempo of a game. Though a no.6 or no.8, his verticality would be key to Chelsea's attacks as much as his ability to break up play would help the side defensively.
Neves has been at Wolves since the Championship days and may well welcome a new challenge, after his agent offered his services to the likes of Arsenal in the summer.
