Normally we wouldn't be taking the Daily Mail's word on things, but Neil Ashton's been such a ridiculous roll with Chelsea news lately that it would be perverse not to assign him some credibility for the time being. And so when he writes about our transfer targets, we'd do well to take some note.

Steve's already covered the Freda Taison rumour (verdict: meh), but there's another juicy tidbit in Ashton's latest post. Check it out:

Chelsea are looking to the future.

Southampton

left back Luke Shaw, who has started the last four matches, has long been on the radar of Stamford Bridge technical director Michael Emenalo.

Shaw, 17, insisted this week he will not be leaving St Mary’s, but he is so highly rated by Chelsea that he is lined up to replace Cole in the summer.

Although

Ryan Bertrand

is the natural successor, Shaw’s development has been so rapid that Emenalo believes the England Under 17 defender will soon be ahead of Bertrand.

Luke Shaw, in case you're not familiar with him, is a 17-year-old left back on the verge of breaking into the Southampton starting lineup. That probably sounds more impressive than it is, since the Saints' defence is not particularly special, but he's still an extremely talented prospect that Southampton will fight tooth and claw to keep.

And yet Chelsea are talking about acquiring him anyway. Interesting. I'd guess that the hope is Southampton get relegated and the Blues can swoop in for the kill, and that means that their table position might have some bearing on Ashley Cole's contract talks.

http://www.weaintgot...mours-luke-shaw

Edited November 30, 201213 yr by ishangodbole

Soton's defense is an absolute horrorshow so no, that doesn't sound impressive. I've heard good things about Shaw, and Soton's academy is well regarded, but I'm not sure he's ultimately going to stick at left back. I also can't imagine that whether or not we buy Shaw will have any bearing whatsoever on what we do with Cole. That's mental, Shaw isn't a direct replacement. He's just another talented youngster for the future.

Kid is going to be immense in 5 years.

We bided for Shaw in the summer apparently and got rejected.