A summer of chasing transfer targets is looking set to continue for Thomas Tuchel as Bayern Munich's action forces a player merry-go-round through Europe.
Chelsea had been looking into deals for both Robert Lewandowski and Matthijs de Ligt but an agreement between Bayern and Barcelona could see Todd Boehly miss out on two more of his shortlisted players.
The Blues have already fallen foul to the Catalan club this window, seeing Leeds United winger Raphinha choose Xavi's side over a move to London and Ousmane Dembele belatedly committing himself to a longer spell in Spain.
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The latest reports coming from Germany suggest that a double blow could be handed to Chelsea though, as Bayern look to bring in funds to support their own bid to acquire De Ligt themselves. The German champions are in exclusive talks with the player now after leapfrogging ahead of Chelsea.
Although Lewandowski has 238 goals in 253 games for Bayern, and 76 in 63 over the past two seasons, Julian Nagelsmann has accepted that he will be losing his star striker this summer. The Pole's contract ends at the end of next season, and he would be able to start talking to clubs in January ahead of a possible free transfer.
Bayern are looking to cash in now though, and Florian Plettenberg from Sky Germany has reported that a deal between the Germans and Barcelona is close to being agreed for around £50m. Although this alone is still a blow for Chelsea, who want to bring in the forward to replace Romelu Lukaku, the next line was more damning.
Plettenberg tweeted: "Bayern is willing to sell him for €50-55m. His transfer to Barcelona is more and more likely this week. Bayern wants to invest the money in #DeLigt "
Unfortunately for Chelsea, it doesn't seem like they will be bringing in either of these two top targets as attention is turned elsewhere.
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