Global football is currently on pause for the most part, but the Premier League will restart again on June 17. Project Restart appears to be a success, with training returned and the UK government giving the official all clear for sporting events to resume.
Until we have football matches again, we still have plenty of transfer talk to cover and analyze. So let’s take a spin through the Chelsea rumor mill in cyberspace.
We start with Timo Werner, as the Blues are now in the mix to acquire his signature.
Stamford Bridge are shopping for a striker this summer and they see the RB Leipzig star, who’s been strongly linked to Liverpool, as a desirable target, according to ESPN.
However, he’s also their fallback option, as the top priority is Lyon’s Moussa Dembele as their preferred target. The ESPN FC report goes on to say that “Chelsea tried to sign Dembele in January but the Ligue 1 club were reluctant to sanction a midseason sale and demanded a fee of around £80 million.”
Shifting from the front to the back line, another position in need for the southwest London side is left back. A top tier target for Chelsea is Alex Telles of FC Porto, according to Le 10 Sport.
They will face competition for the 27-year-old Brazilian from Paris Saint-Germain, among others.
Another target, other than Telles, in Ajax’s Nicolas Tagliafico. The 28-year-old Argentinian will be available this summer according to The Telegraph.
Both of these left backs are thought to be cheaper options than Leicester City’s Ben Chilwell, their preferred, but probably unlikely option. It’s a shame for Stamford Bridge that this summer transfer window, in general, is likely to be a shell of its usual self.
Having totally whiffed in the January window and been banned last summer, it’s going to end up being a while before you can say they had a truly blockbuster transfer period.
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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