Chelsea are planning to overhaul a key area of Enzo Maresca’s squad this summer, with BlueCo looking to sell two players and potentially open new talks for an elite-level star.
Chelsea continue transfer planning after botched CWC deals
In high-profile fashion, Chelsea missed out on a couple of anticipated deals before the pre-Club World Cup transfer deadline at 7pm on Tuesday.
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The west Londoners are still working beyond the Club World Cup transfer deadline.
While Chelsea do have the arrival of Liam Delap to celebrate, with the English sensation set to bolster Maresca’s forward options for the CWC, the Blues couldn’t quite get Borussia Dortmund winger Jamie Gittens or AC Milan’s Mike Maignan over the line.
The former was a top target for Maresca in the wide area, and Chelsea did their utmost to make it happen – lodging three different offers in the build up to Tuesday’s deadline, only for Dortmund to reject them all and demand more money (Florian Plettenberg).
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Chelsea’s best performers in the Premier League last season |
Average match rating |
|---|---|
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Cole Palmer |
7.33 |
|
Moises Caicedo |
7.02 |
|
Enzo Fernández |
6.95 |
|
Nicolas Jackson |
6.88 |
|
Noni Madueke |
6.82 |
|
via WhoScored |
|
Chelsea went as high as £47 million in their bid to sign Gittens, but it was no use, with the west Londoners deciding to walk away from talks once it was clear a deal could not be done in time.
Their attempts to sign Maignan were equally frustrating.
Milan wanted around £25 million to sell the France international, who’s about to enter the final year of his contract and won’t sign a new one, but Chelsea were only willing to pay up to £13 million, meaning no agreement could be found (The Athletic).
Given the 29-year-old’s pedigree as, arguably, one of the world’s finest keepers and France’s undisputed number one, there is frustration among Chelsea supporters that they didn’t stump up the cash for a player who would’ve undoubtedly been an upgrade on their current crop.
Maignan was also known to be very keen on a move to Chelsea, and for just £25m, the shot-stopper could’ve been a serious bargain.
However, their transfer plans are continuing into the summer, with reliable journalist Simon Phillips suggesting that a move for Maignan certainly isn’t off the cards.
Chelsea could hold new Mike Maignan talks next week
The Blues want to sell both Robert Sanchez and Djordje Petrovic, with Chelsea reportedly valuing the latter at around £21 million. Sanchez joined the club for around £25 million from Brighton, and you’d Chelsea would want to recuperate a large portion of that fee.
With the £46 million duo up for sale, one source has told Phillips that Chelsea could even reopen talks for Maignan as early as next week.
“They held talks with Milan, Maignan wants the move, and Chelsea actually believed they were about to sign him with a fee agreement close,” said Phillips, via his Substack.
“AC Milan moved the goalposts on the fee in the final stages and that was enough for Chelsea to back out, for now.
“However, they are likely to go back for Maignan. I know initially we heard yesterday that they wouldn’t be going back for him at all. But after further digging by our sources last night, we’ve heard that Chelsea are now likely to revisit this deal later in the summer window. One source even suggests they could go back in for talks as soon as next week.
“Chelsea don’t want to be pushed over in negotiations so some of this is about sending messages as well as not appearing desperate to land a new goalkeeper.
“And that is because they want to sell both Djordje Petrovic and Robert Sanchez this summer. Obviously this needs suitors and those suitors to pay the valuations to make this happen, but this is their intentions.”
Called “one of the best” keepers in world football by Alisson, the Liverpool star also heralded Maignan’s “quick” burst of pace off the line, and a truly quality number one could be one of the final missing pieces of Maresca’s jigsaw.
