Exclusive: Chelsea’s stance on superstar talent that ‘almost everyone in world football appreciates’
Chelsea owner, Todd Boehly, has certainly put his money where his mouth is where transfers are concerned since taking over the west London outfit.
The American has spent €611m/£541m on players according to transfermarkt, but he hasn’t really had the return that he’d probably hoped for.
The Blues have been hopelessly off the pace in the Premier League and Boehly should probably write off the 2022/23 campaign and put it down to a learning curve.
With the end of the season not too far away now new transfer targets will need to be decided upon, and who they are will likely depend on which manager is sitting on the bench next season.
In any event, one particular player is highly unlikely to be playing at Stamford Bridge next season – unless it’s in the colours of Barcelona.
“Chelsea are not chasing Gavi,” Ben Jacobs wrote in his exclusive CaughtOffside column.
“Admittedly, almost everyone in world football appreciates him, but Chelsea’s meeting with Ivan de la Pena, Gavi’s agent, was about Luis Enrique. De la Pena represents Enrique, too, who is a candidate for the Chelsea vacancy and wants to manage in the Premier League.
“The Gavi links remind me of the Neymar ones with Chelsea. It is true that Todd Boehly met Nasser Al-Khelaifi before PSG’s home Champions League tie with Bayern, but it was informal, largely to smooth over the fallout from the failed Hakim Ziyech loan on Deadline Day in January. A Neymar transfer was not discussed.”
It’s completely understandable why other clubs may feel that they’re in with a chance of acquiring the youngster given Barca’s current financial predicament, however, Jacobs believes that won’t fuss the Catalan outfit.
“Gavi is currently not registered as a first-team player for Barcelona because LaLiga ruled the club exceeded their salary cap by offering him a new contract last September,” he continued.
“That means he reverts back to his old deal, which expires at the end of this season. So in theory Gavi could be available on a free. But Barcelona aren’t too concerned. They know Gavi wants to stay, and Chelsea also have plenty of other midfield options they are working on.”
The sooner that Chelsea can have their manager installed the better. That appointment is likely to largely be the driver not only in the summer transfer market, but also how we see the Blues set up from the start of next season.
After such a poor season, whoever comes in really needs to hit the ground running and get his team challenging at the top end of the table rather than in the middle third.
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