The impending arrival of Marco Palestra from Atalanta — barring any last-minute dramatics — could leave us with one too many (nominal) right backs in the team. And while Palestra can also play on the left, and Reece James could certainly play more central (in either defense or midfield), it’s not at all surprising that rumors about Malo Gusto’s departure have grown quite a bit louder in the last 24 hours as a result.
Gusto was already linked with Manchester City once it became clear that they were
looking to hire Enzo Maresca (should be official soon), but the likelihood of Gusto happening has increased markedly given Chelsea’s big-money move for Palestra.
And speaking of big money, that’s exactly what we’d hope to get for the 23-year-old France international. According to reports, we’ve set our asking price at £75m, which sure seems optimistic at first glance — it would make him the most expensive wing-back (or fullback) in history — but perhaps not so outrageous given the sort of market inflation we’ve seen in the last few years. And anything close to that value would be a massive profit for BlueCo: we signed Gusto from Lyon three years ago for “just” €30m. He’s since gone on to make 134 appearances for us, despite never quite managing to impress consistently (or find a consistent position, even).
For now, this seems to be little more than paper talk, but Gusto’s said to be “exploring his options” via his representatives and Maresca sure seemed to love him, so we might yet get to cash in.
