![\"Kerim](\"https:\/\/cdn.sportwitness.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Kerim-Alajbegovic.jpg\")
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Chelsea have been in the frame to sign Kerim Alajbegovi\u0107 and a deal is now gathering pace.<\/strong><\/p>\n The Bosnian is one of the most-wanted talents in Europe right now. After doing well at Salzburg, Bayer Leverkusen re-signed him but are looking to sell him for a quick profit.<\/p>\n Sport Witness have covered how Italian clubs have also been keen on his signature. English sides have proved to be a threat, with Sunderland and Leeds United previously in the race.<\/p>\n A move to England is now looking increasingly likely and this comes as a blow to AS Roma.<\/p>\n La Repubblica \u2013 via SiamoLaRoma, report that while Roma are back in the chase for Alajbegovic, a deal looks complex. The player has expressed interest in joining the Italian side but Gian Piero Gasperini has doubts about the teenager.<\/p>\n He feels Alajbegovic is too young to be a regular under his system and is looking for a more established star.<\/p>\n This is great news for Chelsea. It is believed the attacker\u2019s father-agent has expressed a desire to Xabi Alonso about joining the Blues.<\/p>\n The London club are also prepared to meet the \u20ac35m price tag too. Before closing the move, they have to make sales but despite that, Alonso\u2019s side are a step ahead of everyone in the race.<\/p>\n Leverkusen are in a hurry and Chelsea\u2019s pressure can now prove key.<\/p>\n There is no doubt about Alajbegovic\u2019s abilities. The 18-year-old did well at the World Cup, playing a key role in helping his country qualify for the tournament before that.<\/p>\n Chelsea shouldn\u2019t rush him into their project right away. Loaning him out would make a lot of sense and that is something the Blues do for a lot of players.<\/p>\n If his career is managed well, \u20ac35m could turn out to be a bargain for the Leverkusen talent.<\/p>\n \n <\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chelsea have been in the frame to sign Kerim Alajbegovi\u0107 and a deal is now…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2171,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22370","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\/22370","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=22370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22370\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Blues move closing in<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Our take: Player may need a loan<\/strong><\/h2>\n