Chelsea could sell £33 million forgotten man Michy Batshuayi for a substantial loss with Leeds United keen to reunite the striker with Marcelo Bielsa, as reported by Football London.
If anyone is capable of squeezing that elusive potential out of this most enigmatic of strikers, it’s the man who transformed Kalvin Phillips, Luke Ayling, Liam Cooper and co into established Premier League stars.
Batshuayi made his Ligue 1 breakthrough under Bielsa, sealing a big-money move to Chelsea on the back of his impressive strike rate at Marseille.
Six years later and with Batshuayi stuck in limbo, The Telegraph reports the Belgium international is in line for a shock reunion with the coach who handed him a chance to shine on the hallowed Stade Velodrome turf.
Batshuayi and Bielsa, reunited at Leeds?
With one year left on his contract and following a miserable loan spell at Crystal Palace, it almost goes without saying Chelsea don’t have a hope of recouping their £33 million investment.
Football London believes a fee in the region of £10 million is more realistic for a man who scored just twice in 20 games last season.
- ‘HE’S READY’: Manager says reported £30m Leeds and Liverpool target wants to leave
Given the recent form of Patrick Bamford, however, it’s hard to imagine Batshuayi, a one-time teammate of Rodrigo Moreno at Valencia, finding starts easier to come by in West Yorkshire.
“He didn’t speak to me, he never spoke to me,” Batshuayi told Onze Mondial in 2018, describing his relationship with Bielsa.
“(It annoyed me because) I worked like crazy, but he didn’t talk to me. And yet he always took other people to talk to them. In fact, it is all or nothing. Either (Bielsa) picks you up and talks to you for 40 minutes, or he doesn’t talk to you at all.
“But, looking back, I tell myself he knew who to do this with. Some needed this support. Me, (Bielsa) understood my personality. He knew I could draw on my resources.
“I’ll tell you something. One day he told me something shocking. For several months he hardly spoke to me. And the time he came to talk to me, he just said: ‘When you go out of here, you’re gonna go for 40 million.’
“He just told me that. In my head, I said to myself: ‘But he’s crazy.’ In the end, (Bielsa) was right.”
- NOT READY: Report suggests £2.5m man has been warned against Leeds move
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
