Chelsea could be set for another summer dealing with Barcelona with the Catalan club linked with moves for Jorginho and N'Golo Kante.
The Blues' duo will both be available on free transfers next summer with their contracts set to expire at the end of the 2022/23 season. Chelsea were keen on bringing in a central midfielder in the summer transfer window but were unable to convince Barca star Frenkie de Jong on moving to Stamford Bridge.
The La Liga outfit proved to be a thorn in the Blues' side all summer as they hijacked moves for Raphinha and Jules Kounde, as well as signing Marcos Alonso and Andreas Christensen on free transfers after their contracts expired at Chelsea. Graham Potter and Todd Boehly will need to manage a changing squad in the coming transfer windows with some key decisions over players' futures needing to be made.
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Jude Bellingham is one player that the Blues have been linked with but they face competition from a number of Europe's elite clubs including Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Manchester City. Chelsea are looking to appoint a new director of football with Christoph Freund having agreed to take up the role of sporting director at Stamford Bridge after a series of talks which started last month, football.london understands.
Freund is renowned for having scouted the likes of Erling Haaland, Sadio Mane and Naby Keita and looks set to work alongside Potter in shaping the Chelsea squad moving forward. Boehly has been clear he wants to add people that fit into his long-term plan at Stamford Bridge, including following a similar example to the Red Bull model by investing in clubs on a worldwide scale to scout, develop and implement young talents that can contribute to future success.
With Kante and Jorginho aged 31 and 30 respectively, there could be a major change coming to the midfield area next summer. Both players will be able to talk to clubs overseas from January unless new deals are negotiated prior to the winter transfer window, though talks are looking unlikely at this stage as Boehly focuses on adding strong additions to the boardroom.
Barca are looking at potential replacements for Sergio Busquets, who turns 35 next summer and will also be out of contract then, with both Jorginho and Kante being lined up as a potential replacement, as per The Mirror. Due to the Catalan giant's ongoing financial issues, free transfers represent strong business for Xavi Hernandez's side but it could see Chelsea lose two key players without receiving a transfer fee once again, similar to Antonio Rudiger and Christensen last summer.
Jorginho and Kante's futures could be decided in the coming months leading up the 2022 World Cup in Qatar with Potter set to understand where needs strengthening and which players need moving on through a busy October and November period of fixtures. Should the Chelsea duo leave next summer, major investment will be needed to ensure quality replacements are found with Bellingham and De Jong both likely targets for the Blues.
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