Chelsea next plays at Bayern Munich on Saturday, in the second leg of their UCL round of 16 tie. They enter the match down 0-3 on aggregate. Manager Frank Lampard will be without the services of five players in this Champions League clash. Three players, Christian Pulisic, Pedro and team captain Cesar Azpilicueta, got seriously injured yesterday in the FA Cup final loss to Arsenal.
Additionally, Jorginho and Marcos Alonso are not available for selection as both are suspended for that game. In other words, there isn’t much to look forward to on that front, so the summer transfer window is much more compelling right now for Blues supporters.
We start where else, but with an update on the man in demand, the German hit man Kai Havertz. For all this pervasive talk of personal terms agreed and a deal almost reached, it has started to feel like the Bayer Leverkusen scoring sensation already has one foot in the Stamford Bridge door.
Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes tells a very different story- he said the club has to even receive an official offer for the 21-year-old, from anyone.
“So far we have no offer,” he told Sky Germany.
“We know about the interest of clubs, but there is no official offer. We have said several times that we will end the season with our entire squad. And that includes Kai. That goes without saying for us.”
While this transfer saga has been long drawn out already, one might expect that we could only just beginning right now. It might be awhile before this deal is actually done and dusted.
Staying in the final third, a position group that should be overloaded and thus present a challenge for Lampard to shape and manage next season, Callum Hudson-Odoi is drawing interest again. This time, it’s Chelsea’s biggest transfer window rivals, Manchester United that are keen.
CHO, who is deeper down on the depth chart right now, is wanted by United according to Manchester Evening News reports. The 19-year-old was previously pursued by Bayern Munich, but Chelsea were not interested in selling. Whether or not Hudson-Odoi stays put hinges on several factors, not just the size of the offer, but also
1.) if Willian stays or goes and
2.) whether or not they close a deal for Havertz.
Chelsea have reportedly tabled a new contract offer to the Brazilian, with several other teams also interested, including Arsenal, Barcelona and Inter Milan.
Finally, it’s obvious that Chelsea need an upgrade at goalkeeper, but they also need to strengthen the back line quite a bit as well. With that in mind, the Bridge is reportedly interested in Atletico Madrid central defender Jose Maria Gimenez, according to ESPN.
Manchester City are said to be keen as well, but given that Gimenez has a release clause of £108 million, which would absolutely obliterate the transfer fee record for a defender, it is very unlikely the Uruguayan actually makes a move.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” regularly contributes to WGN TV, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Now and SB Nation.
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