Chelsea’s Plan B: Football Whispers profiles Alex Telles – the defender who Antonio Conte wants if he misses out on Alex Sandro
We assess the Porto right-back and compare him to the Juve star who is wanted by PSG but remains the Blues' main target
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Alex Telles is reportedly a Chelsea transfer target should they fail to sign Alex Sandro.
The Premier League champions are looking elsewhere for a plan B after Paris Saint-Germain launched a last-minute bid to hijack their move for the Juventus star.
And our friends at have profiled that plan B, Telles.
Who is Alex Telles and where does he come from?
Born in 1992 in Caxias do Sul in Brazil, Telles joined local club Juventude as a youth player.
He made his professional debut in January 2011, before making a move to a bigger Brazilian side – Gremio – in December 2012.
It was at Gremio where he attracted admirers from Europe’s big leagues, but work permit issues limited his choices and he ended up moving to Galatasaray in January 2014, after playing 39 times and scoring once for the Porto Alegre-based side.
His move to the Turkish club cost €6million and he signed a deal to keep him there until 2018.
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He quickly impressed, and was attracting interest across Europe by the end of the 2014/15 season.
Telles was subject of back in the summer of 2015, with various reports claiming the Blues were looking to replace Filipe Luis with him, but instead they plumped for Abdul Baba Rahman, whose career at Stamford Bridge never really took off.
Instead, after 60 appearances and two goals for Galatasaray, he left for Inter Milan on a one-year loan with the option to make it permanent in August 2015.
That saw him reunited with , who had previously coached him at the Turkish side.
The Italian boss left Inter the following summer, and so did Telles, after 22 appearances.
He didn’t stay in Turkey though, and was sold to Porto for €6.5million on a contract that ran until 2021.
The full-back is definitely in the Brazilian mould and likes to go forward, perhaps making him ideal for a wing-back role.
He is arguably better going forward than he is defending, and possesses great pace and flair – he provided 10 assists for Porto last season.
But his time in Europe has definitely helped him with the defensive side of the game.
How much will he cost?
Despite only signing him for €6.5million last summer, if anyone wants to convince Porto to sell, they will need to produce a significantly larger offer.
He has a release clause of €40million (£35million), but SunSport understands a bid of around £22million is in the region of the fee that the Portuguese side would be asking for.
And his agent Fernando Otto believes he won’t come cheap.
When asked by how much his client would cost, he said:
“I don’t know. Porto paid €6million or €7million.
“But he’s been valued this year, he was the best fullback of the Portuguese league, and in assists numbers he’s the best left-back in Europe.
“I believe they will ask a lot, not a little. Also because there are no fullbacks in the market.”
Where is his most likely destination this summer?
Telles is thought to be keen on a move to the Premier League, and with Chelsea facing hurdles in their Sandro pursuit, he makes sense as a plan B.
But Otto claimed earlier this month there had been no approach.
“For now, we have nothing,” he added.
“Not from Chelsea. Neither me nor the player received any contact, from any English club. But it can happen.
“When he went to Galatasaray, we had an offer from Chelsea for Alex.
“But at the time, we had already confirmed a pre-contract with Galatasaray, and we could not go back.
“But there was information exchange, last year too.
“And I believe that maybe one day he will play for Chelsea.
“I don’t know if it’s going to be this season or the next but I feel like one day he can play for Chelsea.”
When you hear an agent speaking about his client like that, it’s clear what his goal is.
But Chelsea of course have Sandro as their first-choice target.
Yet Telles would be a cheaper option, and given was impressive in his first season at Stamford Bridge, perhaps spending less money on someone who is still more than competent would make more sense for the Blues.
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