One perfect hat-trick, and suddenly everybody wants you. Thiago Alcantara is drawing a lot of attention from Premier League clubs, with Chelsea also now becoming one of the teams following the Barcelona talent, coming off winning his second consecutive U-21 European championship.
Thiago wasn’t too impressive during most of the tournament, but he saved his best for last, scoring a perfect hat-trick, leading Spain to a 4-2 win over Italy, while Isco scored the fourth goal, sparking more rumors about his potential transfer to Real Madrid, Manchester City, and now possibly even Chelsea.
The good news for all these teams pursuing Thiago? It looks like his final days as a Barcelona players are approaching, even though a performance like this can change the way he’s looked at by Tito Vilanova and the club. Still, when the two sat down to talk about the young midfielder’s future, Thiago was told he isn’t going to be a first team player next season.
Luckily for him, a great match like this doesn’t hurt his chances of being sold because of an outrageous transfer fee. His usual release clause is at €90 million, but because Barcelona didn’t play him enough last season, he’s available for only €18 million.
So unless Thiago has a change of heart and prefers to continue filling the understudy role behind Xavi and Iniesta, he won’t be waiting too long before a team makes the right kind of offer for him. According to El Mundo Deportivo, Roman Abramovich is the one pushing for the signing, although Jose Mourinho was promised full control of the transfers, so it’s interesting to see how this one turns out.
If not Chelsea, there are plenty of others interested in him – Manchester United, Manchester City and even Bayern Munich, with Pep Guardiola in charge. Thiago isn’t the only player Chelsea are interested in, putting their eye on Isco who has an offer from both Real Madrid and Chelsea, and the tournament’s top scorer, Alvaro Morata from Real Madrid, who has been linked with Liverpool regarding the Luis Suarez transfer.