Brazilian fullback Maicon is close to sealing a £6 million switch from Inter Milan to Chelsea and his agent is due in London for talks this week, according to reports in the Metro.

Rumours of the player joining the Blues have been prominent for the past week now and fans of the club have given the player mixed reviews. One thing is for sure, after Jose Bosingwa has left the club we need to bring in a new right-back and Paulo Ferreira doesn’t have enough in him to challenge Branislav Ivanovic for his place.

Those in the pro Maicon camp suggest that signing the 30-year-old could be perfect as the price is fairly modest and he still has a good few years in him, which gives the likes of Todd Kane time to develop until he’s ready to break into the team in a similar way to Ryan Bertrand, who put in plenty of graft before getting in our first team and was rewarded with a starting spot in the Champions League final.

And then there’s those that are against Maicon, who say that we should seek to bring in a younger right-back as a longer term option, like a Lukasz Piszczek or Mathieu Debuchy. The Metro also reckon Roberto Di Matteo has an interest in both Gregory van der Wiel and Rafael da Silva, but they’re both non-starters as far as I am concerned.

I think we definitely do need to bring in a player who is well equipped when going forward as it’s not really one of Ivanovic’s strengths, he’s a real threat from dead-ball situations but doesn’t offer the sort of width we need in open play in a similar way to Ashley Cole on the left. Could Inter’s Maicon be the man to help provide width from the fullback position on Chelsea’s right flank?

Whether you’re for or against, it seems increasingly likely that we will be signing the player as he has rejected terms with Real Madrid and his agent will be in London to discuss a three-year deal worth £80k-a-week.

In other news, there have also been reports that Chelsea are showing an interest in promising Southampton left-back Luke Shaw and have lodged a £4m bid for the 17-year-old.

Source: http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/football/904027-maicon-close-to-sealing-6million-chelsea-switch?