According to Sky Sports, Chelsea recently had a bid of £35million for 21-year-old centre back Alessio Romangoli rejected by the player’s current club, AC Milan.

So who is this young defender that Chelsea are willing to spend big on? Let’s have a look.

Rising from Roma’s youth team, he made his senior debut at the age of 17 under Zdnek Zeman (the man who also handed Alessandro Nesta his debut at Lazio) and made sporadic appearances for the first team during that season and the next; impressing in some.

However, the young defender truly came to prominence during a loan spell at Sampdoria during the 2014/15 season, becoming an integral part of the defence as he went on to make 30 appearances and only conceding 42 goals. His mature performances for Sampdoria led to the young player to be cited as the ‘next Alessandro Nesta’; causing a host of top European clubs to be reportedly linked with a move for him, but ultimately Roma accepted Milan’s bid of £21.25million.

Last season saw the player continue his development - he made 34 league appearances, the only Milan defender to make over 25 appearances – and establish himself in the heart of the Rossoneri, though the team only managed a meagre seventh placed finish.

Standing tall at 1.85 metres, the young Italian is known to be potentially the future of Italian football and his performances further exemplified that thought.

According to WhoScored.com, he boasts a strong passing percentage of 86% last season and his aerial game is strong; winning more than 65% of aerial challenges last season. He has a gifted left foot, allowing him to play on the left of a defensive pairing.   His positional game is near perfect and his composure with the ball, coupled with his technique, proves him to have the playing style of a classic Italian centre-back; following the footsteps of players such as Franco Baresi, Fabio Cannavaro and Alessandro Nesta.

Chelsea are seemingly targeting a new centre-half before the end of the transfer window, with there being links to Napoli shot-stopper Kalidou Koulibaly. However, as Napoli are seemingly unwilling to sell, it seems that Chelsea’s manager, Antonio Conte, is now turning his attention to Alessio Romangoli – ironically a player who he excluded from the Euro 2016 sqaud.

Antonio Conte acknowledged the team’s lack of defenders in a recent post-match interview after winning 2-1 at Watford, stating himself that: "If you look now at our squad, we have only five defenders - four that started today and an academy player Ola Aina,"

With Chelsea’s defence ageing – currently occupied by three players over the age of 30 – they are in need of some young faces in that area and with Conte having managerial experience in Serie A, he will be undoubtedly familiar with the Italian centre-back and the potential he possesses.

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