Rumours Abound of Chelsea signing Manea
It has been heavily rumoured in the last few weeks that Chelsea are interested in signing Cristian Manea, a 17 year old playing in the Romanian league. The youngster has caught the eye of many scouts across the world, but it is believed that Chelsea have made an offer for him in the bid to sign him before the competition. Interestingly, Manea plays for Romanian club Viitorul Constanța. They are owned by former Romanian international and a legend around these parts, Gheorghe Hagi. The former Real Madrid and Barcelona midfielder says that there is no truth in the rumours that the club has received an offer for Manea.
It is widely speculated that an offer of £ 2.5 million would be enough to persuade the Romanian club to sell the player. This would represent a huge amount of money for the Romanian club, but it would not be a massive transfer fee for Chelsea. After all, the Premier League outfit had splashed out £ 88 million on new players like Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas. Chelsea have accumulated a number of highly talented youngsters in the last decade, but few have actually managed to make it to the first-team. However, they have gone on to have successful careers elsewhere.
“He has other offers. We have many offers. He is one of the most courted players, but it’s not true that he’s going somewhere or another… At this point he’s not signed any preliminary,” said the former Romanian international. During his stellar career, Hagi made 125 appearances for the national team and scored 35 goals. After largely playing for Romanian clubs at the start of his career, he moved to Real Madrid in 1990 and played for two seasons at the Santiago Bernabeu. He also became one of the few to have also represented Barcelona, which he did a few years later.