Inside a week until summer transfer window deadline day and Cheslea FC still have a lot of business to complete. Yes, they did break the club transfer fee record in signing Romelu Lukaku this summer, but they still have some roster improvement/tweaking left to do.
Let’s take a look at the latest buzz in the Chelsea transfer rumor mill, covering central defenders Kurt Zouma and Jules Kounde, as well as midfielder Saul Niguez.
We start with the latest on Kounde, which would give Blues boss Thomas Tuchel an upgrade at position, and likely lead to a Zouma exit. According to multiple reports, Chelsea remain very interested, but they must accept that he won’t come cheap.
The established narrative says that additional £9 million to activate Sevilla star Jules Koundé’s release clause this summer.
Sports Illustrated report that the Frenchman’s buy-out clause is believed to be in the bracket of €80-90 million, so maybe this deal isn’t all that likely after all.
Chelsea obviously have very deep pockets, but that’s a big sum to get lined up in less than a week, given how they would need to sell-off some surplus players in that time, before splashing the cash again.
Most of the business conducted by Chelsea this summer has been sell-off. As Football.London pointed out:
“The club has sanctioned permanent exits for Tammy Abraham, Olivier Giroud, Fikayo Tomori, Marc Guehi, Tino Livramento and Victor Moses. Michy Batshuayi, Emerson, Kenedy and Billy Gilmour have all left on loan deals.”
They’ve been able to trim their roster down from a high that reached 42, and that’s important, because people often forget that summer transfer business is also about getting rid of fringe players, just as much as it is about buying new ones.
As for Zouma, it appears that he has found his new destination, and it is current table toppers West Ham United. The east London club is ready to meet the Blues asking price of £25.8million ($35.4 million), The Athletic reported.
Finally, a report from the Guardian states that both Chelsea and Manchester United are keen on Atletico Madrid midfielder Saul Niguez, but not for a permanent basis, just a season-long loan deal.
He’s been linked with United for some time already, but now with Chelsea jumping in, it continues a long line of players that inspired Chelsea and United to go head to head in a transfer window battle.
NBC Sports points out that the “Spanish midfielder is said to want a move to the Premier League to take the next step in his career and Atletico are happy to allow him to move on.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune.
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