Bradley Barcola to Chelsea transfer dream explained after £50m priority decided

Here is a 20-year-old right-footed left-winger. He has 11 goal contributions and just shy of 35 league appearances. He has played in the Champions League and is valued at £50million.

Is this Jamie Gittens, the Borussia Dortmund man who football.london understandsin less than two weeks? Or is it Bradley Barcola in his first year at Paris Saint-Germain?

The newly crowned Champions League winner might sound a bit out of Chelsea's reach right now, but why? He was just benched for the final, after all, with fellow jinky French attacker Desire Doue preferred by Luis Enrique.

In fact, with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia arriving in the January transfer window, his position may well never have been more uncertain. This is not to say there are noises around Barcola, but Chelsea would be wrong not to ask about the availability of someone who so closely fits what they are after.

That was when he was 20 and put up similar numbers to Gittens at Dortmund. That is where the comparison comes from.

In the two years since, Barcola has really shone. He has delivered on the promise and hype around a player with such delightful twinkle-toes that his output can almost appear secondary.

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With 26 goals and 28 assists in 97 matches (around 6,000 minutes in all competitions) he is a world star. Doue has the headlines now but Barcola has done plenty himself. This is a player who deserves to be the main attraction.

It is hard to get that at PSG now they have so many wonderful attackers, but Chelsea are not in the same boat. Yes, Cole Palmer takes most of the plaudits, but the wingers are light on tangibly impacting games.

Both have had big moments for Chelsea this season but neither have tied down a spot and made it entirely their own. They have struggled to play well at the same time, and that has been a common theme in the Chelsea attack.

When Neto scored, it often meant Noni Madueke () had been taken off. Sancho and Neto fought for a place, as did Madueke, but nobody dominated and made themselves undroppable for long.

Neto prefers the right, as does Madueke, but both can occupy either flank. So can Cobham graduate Tyrique George. Sancho has been used on either side as well. Mykhailo Mudryk is still suspended.

Gittens has played on both sides but is primarily being viewed as an answer to Chelsea's left-wing demands. He would undoubtedly come as cheaper than Barcola, who is more likely to cost closer to £80million if PSG would even consider it at all, and has a bit still to be ironed out.

At 20, who doesn't? Gittens is a rapid dribbler who likes to take the ball inside the field but is developing his ability to go to the byline as well. His underlying numbers are not great but there is enough to build around. That is what Chelsea will hope for if they do get a deal over the line.

However, many will point towards Champions League qualification and ask whether they could be going for some more established targets. Liam Delap, for example, fits into the cheap but solid and sensible category. He is not proven at the elite level but had a relegation clause that was impossible to ignore.

- and the chance to reunite him with manager Enzo Maresca as well as former Manchester City academy teammates Romeo Lavia and Cole Palmer, not to mention recruitment director Joe Shields. At £30million it was a deal that suited everyone.

Chelsea know they need depth but also someone in a position to make the spot their own. They are ready to pay decent enough money in order to find it, hence the £50million laid out for Gittens. Alejandro Garnacho was eyed at £60million over January whilst Mathys Tel was going to cost a similar amount. This is not an insignificant figure for a set of young players yet to totally crack it.

Gittens, it must be said, is more expensive with less assurance of transferring immediately to improvement in the Chelsea team. In a league where attackers generally thrive, he went an extended period of 10 games without a goal or assist, ending the season with just one in 14 appearances.

He fell out of the side under Niko Kovac and is heavily boosted by a winter hot streak of five goals and two assists in seven matches. The caveat is that Dortmund have really struggled this season. They did come into their own when Gittens dropped out, though.

This is not to say he was at fault for their poor form, that would be far too much blame to put on one player, especially someone so young; but it does show that there is enough to temper expectations of what he could do at Stamford Bridge. Is that the sort of player to raise the bar at Chelsea when they are going into a better European competition? It will remain to be seen.

The difference for Chelsea is that Barcola, even at his tender age, is more experienced and more proven. Chelsea would rather pay the lower fee (albeit still a high one for someone with the rough edges of Gittens) than go for the more developed.

That is why looking at Barcola is now out of the equation. It is also why supporters will watch PSG and their bright young team and hope that Enzo Maresca can nurture his own stars into something resembling the new European champions.

Almost certainly not. Is there a straight path to the top for any player or team? Also no.

Chelsea supporters will begin to grow frustrated with spending lavish sums on players of potential and those who are in need of major tutoring before cementing themselves. There is never a guarantee that any player jumps straight in and hits the ground running.

If Chelsea were to sign Barcola for £80million in a hypothetical scenario, he is not destined to takeover. Gittens isn't sure to either. That is the game that is played with transfers. But when there are two young players in the same position and the more expensive one is left alone or not even enquired about, it will grate with those who want to see ambition.