Chelsea have officially completed the loan signing of Liverpool-linked midfielder Saul Niguez from Atletico Madrid, as reported by Sky Sports.
The move had appeared unlikely to come to fruition following reports that a deal had broken down.
🚨 BREAKING 🚨
Chelsea confirm the signing of Saul Niguez on a season-long loan from Atletico Madrid#DeadlineDay pic.twitter.com/x8c1zNwxb4
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) August 31, 2021
The Reds, by comparison, had a far quieter window, despite being linked with Reading forward Femi Azeez, with Ibrahima Konate the club’s only senior incoming.
It’s somewhat bizarre that we didn’t stake a claim for the Spanish international, particularly considering that the 26-year-old was apparently available on loan with an option to buy.
From a wage perspective, it’s possible that the club didn’t want another sizeable bump on the wage bill to contend with, given our general stance of bringing in younger players to develop rather than ready-made stars.
Nonetheless, given the quality of player we lost in Gini Wijnaldum, it’s a bitter pill to swallow seeing the Los Colchoneros midfielder end up at one of our fellow league title contenders.