---
title: "Chelsea eye move for Barcelona defender Aleix Vidal"
canonical: "https://readchelsea.com/2017/02/23/chelsea-eye-move-barcelona-defender-aleix-vidal/"
type: "post"
language: "en-GB"
author: "Michael Oliver"
section: "Chelsea News"
published: "2017-02-23T12:11:01Z"
modified: "2017-02-23T12:11:01Z"
---

# Chelsea eye move for Barcelona defender Aleix Vidal

Chelsea allowed Branislav Ivanovic to leave the club for Zenit St. Petersburg during the January transfer window which has left them short of right-back options for the time being.

While Victor Moses has impressed greatly this season in an unfamiliar right wing-back role, Antonio Conte would like to bring in a player who is a natural at the position and could offer some competition.

According to Spanish source [AS](https://futbol.as.com/futbol/2017/02/22/primera/1487763449_138593.html), Chelsea are considering a summer move for Barcelona defender Aleix Vidal.

Vidal rose to prominence at Almeria and Sevilla prior to a £14.5m move to the Nou Camp in the summer of 2015. Due to Barcelona’s transfer embargo, Vidal was unable to feature for his new club until January 2016.

![Aitor Alcalde/Getty Images Sport](https://cdn.readeverything.co/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/632998378.jpg)

Having featured in eight of the first 10 La Liga games he was eligible for, Vidal only made one more league appearance during the final 11 games of the season and was largely unimpressive in the second half of the season.

The 27-year-old was very much on the outside looking in at Barcelona, making one appearance before the New Year, but, just when his future was looking at it’s bleakest, he was handed a first-team recall in January for the first time in four months and netted in a 5-0 win over Las Palmas.

Over the next month, Vidal scored twice and assisted twice in five appearances before an untimely Malleolar injured ended his best run of games in the first-team and has ruled him out for the rest of the season.

Chelsea were reportedly interested in him in recent years and if Barcelona are willing to part ways with the Spanish international in the summer then the Blues are amongst interest parties.