Gittens transfer news has a new name in it, and that’s Napoli. According to Football Italia, citing Corriere dello Sport, Massimiliano Allegri is monitoring the 22-year-old Chelsea winger for January. Roma tried first in the summer, but Chelsea rejected a loan worth €3m that included a €40m purchase option, roughly €43m in total. allfootballapp
The timing is what makes this interesting. As of November 10, Gittens is still waiting for his first Premier League appearance of the season. His only appearances under Xabi Alonso have come in the Carabao Cup, and he has been out since October with an ankle problem.
He was also hooked at half-time against Leeds. Chelsea will consider a January loan but have no plans to sell him permanently. Roma and four Premier League clubs are also considering loan moves.
Gittens transfer news: What Napoli would actually get?
At his best, Gittens is a direct left-sided runner who beats full-backs one-on-one. That produced eight goals and three assists in 32 appearances for Dortmund before his move. The weakness is the finish. Last season he scored no goals from 0.81 xG over 486 Premier League minutes.
FotMob ranked him around the 60th percentile for shot attempts but the 15th for goals among comparable players. A hamstring injury cost him the final months of last season, so fitness is now a second question mark.
Does he fit Allegri?
Plausibly, but not obviously. Among the other reported targets, Monza’s Gustavo Varela has nine goals in nine Serie A games, Sassuolo’s 18-year-old Darryl Bakola carries a €30m price tag, and Monaco value midfielder Mamadou Coulibaly at €35-40m. That makes Gittens the only winger on the list, most likely a replacement for Noa Lang, who Napoli are reportedly unhappy with alongside Lorenzo Lucca.
Napoli also need to trim the squad before signing anyone, which makes a loan the only realistic structure. The risk is Allegri’s reputation for pragmatism, because a winger with an unproven end product is a hard sell to him.
Chelsea’s view
The case for keeping him is stronger than his minutes suggest. In last Sunday’s defeat at Sunderland, Chelsea had 69% of the possession but could not turn it into chances. They managed just 0.55 expected goals and played without a recognised striker. A winger who can win duels against a low block is exactly the profile that fixes that.
Injuries make January depth matter too, with seven other Chelsea players also injured. Alonso still needs convincing, though. He turned to Estevao Willian at half-time at Sunderland, so Gittens has to earn minutes once he is fit. The home game against Leeds on November 21 is his first window.
The number that matters is €40m. Chelsea paid a reported €56m, and by my estimate his book value will sit near €40m by next summer, spread over a seven-year deal. A €40m option would bring almost no accounting profit while Chelsea carry the injury and form risk.
I would accept a straight loan with guaranteed Serie A minutes, or an option clearly above Roma’s €43m package. Selling a 22-year-old whose contract runs to 2032 at break-even, while the attack is short of ideas, would be a mistake.
