Chelsea have spent close to £450million on 15 new players since Todd Boehly and his consortium completed their takeover of the club in May, but they are showing no signs of slowing down.
The Blues have already signed six players this month for an outlay of around £152m. Mykhaylo Mudryk, Joao Felix, Noni Madueke, Benoit Badiashile, Andrey Santos and David Datro Fofana have arrived to bolster Graham Potter’s ranks and more are seemingly on their way.
Boehly wants to turn around the club’s current slump as fast as possible and his way of doing so is obvious: transfers.
A central midfielder and a right-back are the current priorities and there is a week left to get business done. Here are the latest rumours concerning the west London side.
Blues back in for Fernandez
Chelsea will make another mega-money attempt to sign Benfica midfielder Enzo Fernandez, according to Record.
The Portuguese outlet states that the Blues are ready to reignite their bid and throw 'everything' at Benfica before deadline day. Earlier in the window, Chelsea were understood to have struck a £112m deal with Benfica and agreed personal terms with the 21-year-old Argentina international, only for talks between the two clubs to turn sour.
The Guardian reports that the move comes in the wake of Chelsea’s £55m bid for Moises Caicedo being rejected by Brighton. Talks on Fernandez will resume this week, but Benfica remain reluctant to sell.
Gusto bid lined up
The Blues also want to sign a right-back before the transfer window closes in seven days and have identified Lyon’s Malo Gusto as a target.
The Telegraph says France under-21 international Gusto is considered a good back-up to the injured Reece James. Lyon don’t want to lose the 19-year-old this month and will try to hold onto him until the summer, when he will enter the final year of his contract.
Nevertheless, Chelsea will submit an official bid in the coming days to test their resolve. The interest has come from Laurence Stuart, who will soon start as a technical director at Chelsea, and has extensive knowledge of Ligue 1 from his time at Monaco.
HAVE YOUR SAY! What is Chelsea's biggest priority in the remaining week of the transfer window? Comment below.
Ziyech dilemma
Graham Potter has a decision to make after Chelsea received many enquiries over Hakim Ziyech.
The Evening Standard says that Jose Mourinho wants Ziyech as a replacement for Nicolo Zaniolo, who is a target of Tottenham, while Newcastle and Everton are also keen on the Morocco international.
The Blues need to trim their squad if they are to comply with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules, but Ziyech has been in decent form recently, setting up the only goal in the 1-0 win over Crystal Palace and impressing in the goalless draw at Anfield.
The report also states that Chelsea won’t consider sending out Conor Gallagher and Trevoh Chalobah on loan, but Gabriel Slonina, Bashir Humphreys, Omari Hutchinson and Cesare Casadei could leave temporarily.
