One of the features of a long, male-tournament-free summer is that you forget which slabs of transfer gossip have reported substance to them and which are just endless speculative blether. Moisés Caicedo, for example, has been “linked” with Chelsea for ever, but the Mill is jiggered if it can remember if there’s been any kind of concrete offer. Well now, apparently, there will be, with Chelsea preparing to slap their Mason Mount money on the table and then some, in an £85m bid for the Brighton midfielder. He’ll certainly fill a hole, given the possible and actual midfield outgoings at the Bridge this summer.
Chelsea have also been linked with 2017’s Paulo Dybala after the Argentinian forward’s revitalising season at Roma. Mauricio Pochettino could take advantage of a relatively cheap £10m release clause. The Blues are also closing in on Everton’s 17-year-old defensive prodigy Ishe Samuels-Smith for around £4m.
