Chelsea have just under two weeks until they raise the curtain on the 2022/23 season.
A fixture at Goodison Park is never easy as Everton demonstrated with their battling 1-0 victory over the Blues at the back end of last season. Both teams have had rocky pre-seasons meaning it's anyone's game on the first Saturday Night Football of the season. In the meantime, both sides will be busy with transfer business up till that point with talks for Denzel Dumfries and Presnel Kimpembe in the pipeline for the Blues.
With this being said, football.london rounds up the latest transfer rumours on Wednesday.
READ MORE: Denzel Dumfries, Jules Kounde and Chelsea stars left in limbo as wait for 3rd transfer continues
Cesar Azpilicueta
The Spaniard's future has been in doubt since the end of the 2021/22 campaign.
Initially, manager Thomas Tuchel was happy enough to grant his captain his wish of moving on to new things but the Jules Kounde transfer drama may have affected this.
Barcelona's hijack of Chelsea's Kounde deal had reportedly angered Todd Boehly and the Chelsea board, to an extent where there were rumours coming out that the Blues had cancelled talks with the Blaugrana.
However, these rumours have now been rubbished as Spanish Journalist Toni Juanmarti has reported with his latest tweet: "Barcelona’s relationship with Chelsea continues to be good. Cesar Azpilicueta is expected to receive the green light to join Barcelona in the coming days."
Jules Kounde
As Barcelona look to wrap up talks with the Sevilla star with negotiations progressing, the Catalan giants are looking into different ways in relation to how to match their La Liga counterparts' £55million asking price.
The second economic lever will help with the majority of their bid but Joan Laporta has been looking into creative ways of matching that asking price.
One of those options has been shut down with the Sevilla based club not wanting a certain Barcelona forward to be included in these negotiations.
This is because, as per @Plettigoal, Barcelona 'suggested' a swap deal with Memphis Depay going the other way. A proposal which Sevilla 'rejected' outright.
Denzel Dumfries
Would Denzel Dumfries be a sufficient alternative to Chelsea transfer target Jules Kounde?
Alongside Dumfries, the likes of Presnel Kimepmbe and others are being eyed but the focus seems to be on the 26-year-old who Inter Milan value at around £34million.
Whilst no direct contacts have been made as of yet between Chelsea and Inter, there is expected to be some movement on this front in the forthcoming days. It's important to remember that the Blues tried for the Euro 2021 breakout star when negotiating with Internazionale for Romelu Lukaku but the Italians, like with Milan Skriniar, rejected any player swaps at the time.
If Chelsea were to sign the defender this summer, they will have to beat Man United to the punch with Erik ten Hag a big admirer of a player he sees as his Aaron Wan Bissaka replacement.
But is all the hype around the Dutchman justified and would he be a good addition to the Premier League? Based on Gary Neville's previous comments on the player in question, the answer is no.
“He’s not a defender, at all," Neville said, while on punditry duty for Sky Sports back in 2019. “From the first minute, everything has looked off.”
Read the full story here.
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