Chelsea 'Likely' to Make 2 Marquee Signings - Ben Chilwell Still a Priority
By Tom Gott
Chelsea are poised to make two 'marquee' signings this summer, with Frank Lampard pushing to get a deal for Leicester City left-back Ben Chilwell over the line.
The Blues are one of a select few sides who will have a sizeable transfer budget to play with this summer. They still have the initial £89m from Eden Hazard's exit, which can rise to £150m with add-ons, while they will also raise £48m through Álvaro Morata's move to Atlético Madrid.
According to The Athletic, owner Roman Abramovich isn't scared of pumping that money back into the playing squad. Even though there is some real financial uncertainty about the future, Chelsea are said to be confident that they can make at least two major signings.
In terms of targets, Chilwell remains top of Lampard's wish list. Talk of a deal died down before the coronavirus outbreak as Leicester were rumoured to be looking for around £85m to sell the 23-year-old, but Chelsea now believe that his price could have dropped.
The Blues hope that Chilwell could be tempted to Stamford Bridge to play alongside many of his England teammates, but moves for Porto's Alex Telles and Ajax's Nicolás Tagliafico have both been discussed as potential alternatives.
Any move will be dependent on Chelsea selling one of Marcos Alonso or Emerson, but with interest in the two from Inter and Juventus respectively, the hope is that there could soon be at least one vacant spot in the squad.
Alongside, Chilwell, moves for Bayer Leverkusen’s Kai Havertz, Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho, Lyon’s Moussa Dembélé and RB Leipzig’s Timo Werner are all being considered, with Chelsea hopeful of adding at least one of those this summer.
On Werner, ESPN state that Chelsea are ready to go all in for the German if he indicates a willingness to make the move. Liverpool remain favourites to land Werner, but with talks stalling, the report suggests Chelsea are ready to swoop in if the opportunity arises.
90min reported similar information on Werner last month.
To help finance the deals, high-earners Willian and Pedro are both expected to leave the club this summer once their contracts expire, and a number of fringe players in the squad are also expected to be offloaded (did somebody say Danny Drinkwater?).
A previous report from The Athletic suggested that Chelsea are looking to 'capitalise' on the opportunities created by the financial unrest, and if the Blues have turned their attention back to Chilwell, then they are clearly planning on doing exactly that.
The kind of business being discussed here would have cost Chelsea a bonkers £200m or so before the coronavirus crisis took over, but now that asking prices are dropping, Abramovich is clearly optimistic about deals being far cheaper.