Chelsea can complete a trio of transfers this summer that would hand Mauricio Pochettino a much needed boost after a turbulent start to the window. Although the official period for deals only opened on June 14, still two weeks before Pochettino himself gets down to formal work, plenty has happened.
The club have been fielding talks, arranging meetings and cementing their stance across the continent to prospective buyers and sellers. It has been a typically Chelsea start to a window that holds more importance than many others in recent years.
With a mass exodus of first team stars expected, it is the outgoings that have attracted more interest than incomings so far. Chelsea are keen to sell as many players as possible before June 30 to best shape their financial figures for the 2022/23 period after a hefty spend that only resulted in an embarrassing league finish.
They haven't forgotten about the key positions set to be reinforced by their new head coach, though. Manuel Ugarte was pursed early whilst they have been continuing the battle to bring in a striker and goalkeeper long before the season ended. With Pochettino now in place and ready to get his feet under the table, the pace is picking up.
As well as warning off low-ball bids for Mason Mount from Manchester United, Chelsea have set out their stall in talks with Inter Milan over offers for Kalidou Koulibaly and Romelu Lukaku. Mateo Kovacic leaving to join Manchester City isn't expected to cause much issue but the prospect of Levi Colwill departing is, however.
The club have already batted away two bids from Brighton for the 20-year-old defender. After spending last season on loan at the south coast side they are keen to retain his services on a permanent basis with manager Roberto De Zerbi making this public at the end of the season.
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"I would like to work with him for another two, three, four years," he said. "It’s difficult to find a another centre-back, left centre-back, with his quality. He’s a good guy, I think he’s improving a lot. This year his improvement has been fantastic. I hope he can stay with us."
Chelsea are adamant that Colwill will not be leaving. They value him as one of the best prospects on the books and a future star of the Premier League. Having already sold academy graduates Tammy Abraham, Marc Guehi, Fikayo Tomori and Tino Livramento in recent years, as well as the potential for Mount to follow suit before turning 25, they are determined to develop Colwill at SW6.
However, should they truly wish to get a deal done for Moises Caicedo then this could have to be softened, somewhat. The Blues have sounded out the 21-year-old midfielder as their number one target for the window, football.london understands. With Arsenal now dropping out of the race to sign him as their attention shifts towards Declan Rice instead.
This has handed Pochettino the upper hand when it comes to Caicedo but with a massive price tag of more than £70 million for the player - reports suggest Brighton will demand closer to £100 million - there is a big decision to make.
As has become the standard with the new owners, Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali are keen on exploring all avenues for progression and have even tried such moves with Brighton already. After discussing a swap deal including Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Callum Hudson-Odoi last year when trying to sign Marc Cucurella, the same could be tried again this time around.
Brighton are interested in signing Conor Gallagher this summer and football.london understands that he is more likely to leave his boyhood club than remain, even if it means fewer options for Pochettino. Due to his Premier League experience, age and nationality, Gallagher is an attractive option for many clubs and would represent pure accounting profit as an academy graduate.
It is said that Chelsea are open to swap deals once more and would be willing to consider Gallagher as part of a deal to sign Caicedo and leverage the move to pay a lower cash sum. With Colwill they have another player that could be used in that regard. However, all indications suggest that the defender is going nowhere despite his potential use in such a move.
Chelsea would rather keep Colwill than sign Caicedo but have the best of both worlds in their sight. Should they be able to generate money from Gallagher's sale it would also hand them a financial advantage when it comes to attempting to buy Caicedo too.
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