{"id":20601,"date":"2026-07-23T17:57:52","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T17:57:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=20601"},"modified":"2026-07-23T17:57:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T17:57:52","slug":"chelsea-lead-race-to-sign-30m-world-cup-wonderkid-read-chelsea-f-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=20601","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea lead race to sign \u00a330m World Cup wonderkid &#8211; Read Chelsea F.C."},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Chelsea have emerged as favourites to sign Bayer Leverkusen winger Kerim Alajbegovic following his breakthrough World Cup campaign with Bosnia and Herzegovina. The 18-year-old is valued at around \u00a330million after becoming one of the tournament\u2019s standout young players.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Sam Wallace reports that Chelsea now lead the race for Alajbegovic. Several European clubs have monitored the teenager, but the Blues are increasingly well placed to secure an agreement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alajbegovic returned to Leverkusen this summer after the Bundesliga club activated a buyback clause following his productive season with Red Bull Salzburg. He remains under contract until 2031, leaving Leverkusen in a strong negotiating position.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Bosnia international predominantly operates from the left but can also play through the middle. His direct running, long-range shooting and willingness to attack defenders would add another high-upside option to Xabi Alonso\u2019s forward line.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">EXCL Chelsea now favourites to do deal for Kerim Alajbegovi\u0107, 18yo Bosnia World Cup goalscorer currently back at Bayer Leverkusen. Full story:https:\/\/t.co\/v2qP8XjBSR<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Sam Wallace (@SamWallaceTel) July 23, 2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Kerim Alajbegovic could replace Chelsea winger<\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chelsea may need to create room before completing another attacking signing. Morgan Rogers has already arrived for \u00a3117million, while Geovany Quenda will also strengthen Alonso\u2019s wide options.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aston Villa have submitted an offer for Alejandro Garnacho, with Chelsea open to reducing the number of attackers in their squad. Alajbegovic could therefore arrive as a younger replacement if Garnacho completes his departure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Alonso already knows the teenager from his time at Leverkusen. Alajbegovic trained with the first team and featured in senior matchday squads before leaving for Salzburg.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chelsea have not yet reached an agreement with Leverkusen. However, becoming favourites suggests their interest has moved beyond the early monitoring stage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The proposed \u00a330million fee would represent another significant investment in elite young talent. Alajbegovic\u2019s World Cup performances have increased expectations, but his age and versatility make him a natural fit for Chelsea\u2019s long-term recruitment model.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chelsea have emerged as favourites to sign Bayer Leverkusen winger Kerim Alajbegovic following his breakthrough&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}