Marco Verratti recently emerged as Chelsea’s top January target, according to widespread reports.
The Paris Saint-Germain midfielder and Italy international was thought to be on Antonio Conte’s radar, with Juventus and Inter Milan also interested.
The player’s agent hasn’t exactly helped matters by confirming he won’t be finishing his career in the French capital, but Verratti has quickly cleared that up by insisting he has no desire to leave just yet.
Of course, the two facts aren’t mutually exclusive, as he’s only 24 years old.
It could explain why Chelsea are now placing such an emphasis on signing Real Madrid misfit James Rodriguez if Verratti won’t be joining them.
That’s almost certain as far as the near future is concerned, as he told Mediaset he was “happy” and saw “no reason to leave”.
“I take things day by day and am trying to win as much as possible with this club,” he added.
“We dream of winning everything and we are still in the hunt for all our objectives. We will give it the best we can because we want to do better than we did last year.”
PSG should be in buoyant mood after their 5-0 thrashing of Lorient on Wednesday in which Verratti provided an assist.
And while they may not be top of Ligue 1, they are steadily closing the gap on Nice and Monaco, who lead them by five and three points respectively.
Verratti’s comments should at least ease the pressure on Unai Emery, who is still very much on the brink.
Check out Football Advisor for profitable betting predictions
