Chelsea have been approached over signing a £150,000-per-week forward as his agent offers him out to clubs, and he’s a player who former Blues boss Thomas Tuchel once told the Stamford Bridge hierarchy to strike a deal for.
Stewart and Winstanley targeting new forward for Chelsea
The west Londoners have been one of the Premier League’s busiest sides in terms of total summer arrivals, with Chelsea potentially about to take their tally of new signings into double figures for the window.
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The Blues aren’t convinced he’s the right fit tactically.
Teenage KRC Genk goalkeeper Mike Penders is reportedly on the verge of joining Chelsea after agreeing to join Enzo Maresca’s side. Reports claim a £16.8 million Chelsea deal is agreed for Penders, who will remain at Genk on loan for the rest of the season to further his development.
If Todd Boehly and co manage to officially get the 19-year-old over the line, he’ll be Chelsea’s tenth signing of the summer, following deals for Tosin Adarabioyo (Fulham), Omari Kellyman (Aston Villa), Renato Veiga (FC Basel), Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (Leicester City), Filip Jorgensen (Villarreal), Marc Guiu (Barcelona), Estevao Willian (Palmeiras), Caleb Wiley (Atlanta United) and Aaron Anselmino (Boca Juniors).
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Chelsea’s best-performing players in the Premier League last season |
Average match rating (WhoScored) |
|---|---|
|
Cole Palmer |
7.48 |
|
Conor Gallagher |
7.13 |
|
Nicolas Jackson |
7.07 |
|
Moises Caicedo |
6.85 |
|
Noni Madueke |
6.84 |
Co-sporting directors Laurence Stewart and Paul Winstanley, who have taken charge of the club’s transfer plans over these last few months, have been very active in the market – but only a handful of the aforementioned bunch can be classed as senior upgrades.
Tosin, Jorgensen and Dewsbury-Hall look the most likely to make an immediate impact in Maresca’s first team, while the rest appear to be more long-term investments on Chelsea’s part, due to their age.
There is also the matter of bringing in a new wide forward or striker, which is what Chelsea are reportedly planning behind-the-scenes. The Blues have been linked with Athletic Bilbao winger Nico Williams recently, and attempted to strike a deal for Michael Olise, before he joined Bayern Munich.
Chelsea were even considering Raheem Sterling as a makeweight in talks for Olise, but the 22-year-old instead chose to link up with Vincent Kompany in Bavaria.
Chelsea offered Federico Chiesa by agent as they consider approach
It will be interesting to see who they opt to bring in as an alternative, with Juventus star Federico Chiesa emerging as a possibility recently.
He scored 10 goals and assisted three others for Juve last season, and according to journalist Simon Phillips, Chelsea have been offered Chiesa by his agent as they consider taking him up on the proposal.
“The agent of Federico Chiesa has approached Chelsea, SPTC sources understand,” wrote Phillips. “Chelsea have not yet given a definitive answer, and have been considering it.
“But sources think it’s unlikely. His agent spoke to Chelsea though because we have had recent interest in Chiesa. Thomas Tuchel suggested him to the board when he was in charge, and the board did seriously look at signing him. It wasn’t possible or viable at that time, but Chiesa does still have some admirers at Chelsea, so let’s see if anything comes of that one.”
The £150,000-per-week forward could be available for a cut-price £25 million due to his contract, which is set to expire next year. The winger also boasts over half a century of caps for Italy at international level, and helped the Azzurri clinch a Euro 2020 title at the expense of England.
