Welcome to the heights (or depths) of the summer silly season, as the major international tournaments are now over. It’s all preseason friendlies and transfer window talk for the next month, until the season begins. Let’s take a look at the latest narratives churning in the Chelsea transfer rumor mill.
Stamford Bridge has yet to make a major signing this summer (surprising, given the super spending spree they partook in last summer), and the first could be central defender Jules Kounde of Sevilla. In order to get him, the west London club could be sending Kurt Zouma the other way.
That’s according to ESPN FC, who say “the deal could be worth around €70 million — €10m less than Kounde’s buyout clause.”
Sevilla, who paid Bordeaux €25m, for Kounde just two years ago, completed a swap deal with another big six Premier League club just this week. The Spanish said sent winger Bryan Gil to Tottenham for €25m and Erik Lamela in return.
Elsewhere, Tammy Abraham is still on the trading block, just as he’s been all summer long. He’s been linked to several other Premier League clubs this summer transfer window, West Ham, Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and even arch-rivals Arsenal.
Well, here comes another as former Premier League winger Trevor Sinclair said that Manchester City should buy the now out of favor Chelsea center forward instead of Harry Kane.
With a Kane move getting unlikelier to happen by the day, Abraham might end up being the only realistic possibility of the two.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune.
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