Chelsea must use former manager Avram Grant to try and sign Serbian wonder kid Lazar Markovic.
Markovic is one of the most talented teenagers from Serbia at the moment and fortunately for Chelsea, the 19-year-old just happens to play for Partizan Belgrade, the side that Grant coached briefly last season.
They appear to have urged him to go on the charm offensive in their favour to stop a dogfight breaking out against Inter Milan to try and striker, who can also play down the left wing.
He has a fantastic record in domestic football this season, which is getting him all of this current attention; he’s bagged six goals and six assists in both roles, over 15 matches.
Grant is likely to have maintained contact with a few officials from the club, as he had a very brief but successful spell with Partizan Belgrade, which allowed him to witness Markovic’s quality up close.
He doesn’t owe anything to Chelsea but he is a tool that the London club can use to get an idea over his personality, style and consistency while also using Grant to possibly sound out the youngster over a move to Stamford Bridge.
More significantly, the Mirror has reported that he’s already been to London to meet high profile Chelsea individuals such as Branislav Ivanovic, possibly as part of the plan to try and get him to move to London.
It’s a very difficult and finely balanced situation for Chelsea because they have the chance to invest in an extremely talented player, but he may have several doubts over leaving Serbia for England.
The first is the communication problem, which can be very intimidating to someone at such a young age but that is something that several players in the current Chelsea squad have had to deal with.
Chelsea can also point to the fact that Markovic has several close friends who already play in England, who could help him in terms of learning the language and adapting such as Matija Nastasic at Manchester City.
He’s also a very key component of the current Partizan Belgrade side and he will not enjoy the same status or role from a move to Chelsea.
It’s naïve to expect him to move to Chelsea and expect to go straight into the first team, but that’s one of the main obstacles that the Blues will have to overcome in terms of convincing him to move.
Fortunately, that is where Grant can come in because he has experience of the pressure at Chelsea and how a top flight manager is likely to view their current squad.
Either way, his words to Markovic are going to be very decisive in his final decision so Chelsea must go all out to try and get him on side quickly.
Can Chelsea pull it off? Do they need Grant?
image: © yaffamedia
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
