Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Table toppers Chelsea currently find themselves 8 points clear at the top of Premier League and life seems pretty rosy at Stamford Bridge. With the Diego Costa issue now seemingly ironed out the focus returns to matters on the pitch and continuing their top flight supremacy.
But spare a thought for Asmir Begovic, with Antonio Conte keeping faith in the side which is steamrollering past nearly all before them it means there is very little need or even desire to rotation the starting lineup and that means that the Bosnian Goalkeeper’s contribution has been very little this season.
And it’s because of that desire for first team football that the former Stoke No.1 is considering a move away from West London with Bournemouth believed to be ready to pay £10m to acquire the services of the 29 year old Bosnian international.
But Begovic’s departure will only be approved should Chelsea be able to fill the understudy void and with that in mind Antonio Conte has been eyeing up Celtic’s Craig Gordon as the man to not only fill Begovic’s shoes but to also provide backup to Thibaut Courtois.
Chelsea are believed to have made contact with the runaway Scottish League leaders but their interest in the 34 year old has not been all that warmly received with the club informing Antonio Conte that Gordon is not available for any potential transfer.
The former Sunderland and Hearts player has 18 months on his current deal and has been at Celtic Park since 2014. The stint at the Scottish champions came after an unlikely return from serious injury which saw Gordon miss two years of potential time.
And with Gordon now back to full fitness and playing a part in a season where Celtic have already all but wrapped up the title he may well feel that with the job almost done North of the border he could then play a part in Chelsea winning the title South of it.
To my knowledge he would probably be the first player to potentially pick up league winners medals for both the Scottish and English champions. But that pub quiz question will only come to light should Celtic’s stance soften and allow Chelsea to speak to Gordon.
It would arguably one last move for the Scottish international and you could question do Celtic really need him now that they are a staggering 22 points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership especially with the more than able Daruis De Vries also in the squad.
Perhaps it will come down to whether or not Gordon himself forces a move but as of right now it does not look like he will be swapping Glasgow for London. Whether Chelsea could be prepared to try their luck in the Summer though remains to be seen.
Chelsea will obviously be disappointed that they have been rebuffed but the big loser in all this is arguably Begovic. Without a new backup keeper coming in then he will not allowed to be to move on, of course Craig Gordon is not Chelsea’s only option but with the transfer window closing soon they themselves do not have much time in which to source a new keeper.
