Despite being one of the top transfer targets Chelsea were aiming for was the Brazilian Taison from Metalist, it looks like the player won’t be getting to the European champions or leaving the Ukraine any time soon.
Not that he doesn’t want to – Taison has expressed his desire to leave the Ukrainian league, where he has been playing for the last three seasons. It all seemed set and ready while Metalist were owned by Oleksandr Yaroslavsky, who is on friendly terms with Roman Abramovich.
Back in November and early December, Taison visited Stamford Bridge and personal terms were agreed upon. The transfer fee with the club was also on its way to being set, with Chelsea about to pay £8.5 million for the 24 year old forward, who can play behind the striker and as one of the front three if necessary.
Then Metalist were sold to Sergey Kurchenko, who isn’t very close (and probably worse than that) with Roman Abramovich, which has made the deal collapse. Metalist now wanted the full amount of Taison’s release clause, standing at £12.4 million. Taison is still to be sold, but it looks like Shakhtar Donetsk, the Ukrainian champions and a team that beat Chelsea in the Champions League for the knockout stage ticket, will be the Brazilian’s new club very soon.
In a rather dull looking January transfer window, there seems to be very few upgrade options for Chelsea to take advantage of. Taison isn’t exactly proven talent, playing only in Ukraine and in the Europa League, scoring 20 goals in 83 matches for the club over the last three seasons after arriving from Internacional.
Still, this isn’t world class; it’s nearly impossible to find top class players in January for a bargain price. Chelsea did get Demba Ba for an excellent fee, but it’s unlikely they’ll manage to get another player who can immediately and substantially contribute to them now that Taison seems to be off the table.