Chelsea are hardly short of defensive options right now, but that hasn’t stopped a wealth of papers reporting that Porto centre-back Eliaquim Mangala is a January target for Jose Mourinho. And they’re not the only ones – the Mirror are reporting that Manchester City are interested in the 22-year-old. But who is he, and why is he so highly sought after?Mangala is a three-time France international who has made his name in the ranks of Standard Liege and Porto, for whom he has played a combined 153 at time of writing. He has also scored 12 goals, which is a notable effort.
Although he stands at 6ft2, Mangala is surprisingly agile on his feet and has the technique and balance of someone half his size. In the Champions League this season, Mangala has completed 92% of his passes while averaging six defensive actions per game.
With John Terry, Gary Cahill, Branislav Ivanovic and David Luiz all available to the Special One in the central defensive areas, the move could only act as a long term replacement for the former.
City on the other hand are in need of defensive reinforcements. Vincent Kompany has missed a huge chunk of the season through injury, as has Matej Nastasic and Martin Demichelis, which has left just Joleon Lescott as the man to rely on.