The Fourth of July, also known as Independence Day or the holiday celebrating the USA’s birthday, has brought some Captain America news. And by Capt. America we obviously mean USMNT and Chelsea forward Christian Pulisic.
According to a report from The Daily Telegraph, Chelsea have offered Juventus one of either Christian Pulisic, or Timo Werner, along with some cold hard cash, in exchange for Matthijs de Ligt.
Chelsea have yet to sign a single player this summer transfer window, but they are indeed juggling a lot of balls in the air right now. Some of the deals should come to fruition and be closed shortly.
De Ligt has been linked with the club for some time, and perhaps throwing in a forward who doesn’t quite fit in completely at Stamford Bridge is the path towards finally obtaining the Dutch center back.
Plus Juve have been interested in Pulisic (who has actually been one of Chelsea’s most efficient, and when called upon, productive players in the final third)
However, the American just doesn’t fit the system of Thomas Tuchel, who has actually played him out of position several times this past season.
So maybe it is time for Pulisic to go?
Ditto for Werner, who has been largely a bust at Chelsea so far. And when we said Chelsea have a bunch of deals in the works, we weren’t kidding.
Chelsea are still in talks to bring back Nathan Ake, from Manchester City, with an objective of potentially signing Raheem Sterling too. Then there is the case of Raphinha, who Chelsea have reached an agreement with Leeds United on over his transfer fee.
The only problem is that the Brazilian forward prefers a move to FC Barcelona instead.
So, in other words, while the window has been extremely quiet (obviously) thus far, it’s all about to change soon.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Bank (TheSportsBank.Net) and author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” as well as “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune, and he co-hosts the After Extra Time podcast, part of Edge of the Crowd Network. Follow him and The Sports Bank on Twitter and Instagram.