Possibly the best centre back in Europe playing outside of the elite leagues, Eliaquim Mangala has been the subject of quite a lot of interest from teams interesting in signing the Porto player. Due to his recent change in the agent department, there’s more than a slight chance that Chelsea could become his next club.

Mangala, 22, changed agents and signed on with Jorge Mendes. Mendes works with Jose Mourinho, which intensifies the Chelsea link. The club was interested in the player during the summer, but Porto asking for around £40 million ended the chances of this deal ever happening.

Mendes also works with Cristiano Ronaldo, Falcao, Thiago Silva, Angel di Maria, Diego Costa, Carlos Vela, Pepe and others, and is probably the most powerful agent in the world right now, especially when it comes to La Liga players and Latin players in general.

Manchester City have also shown interest in the player and were probably closer than Chelsea to trigger Mangala’s release clause, but opted out of the negotiations in the end.

The French international, playing one friendly match against Uruguay, has been playing for Porto since the 2011-2012 season, joining them from Standard Liege in 2011 for €6.5 million. He was born in France but grew up in Belgium, and began playing for the French U-21 side in 2009, playing 23 times.

Mangala, besides being a centre back, has the ability to play as a left full back if necessary, and has been extremely successful with Porto over the last couple of years, winning two consecutive league titles. He missed a few matches last season due to injury, but overall, he has been the best defender in Portugal over the last couple of years, and unless something unexpected happens in the near future, he won’t be staying at Porto for much longer.

His connection to Mendes and via that to Mourinho only improves the chances of seeing him in a Chelsea uniform not too long from now.