It was not even 12 months ago that Chelsea saw a series of transfer chases play out in public before inevitably breaking down when they lost out to Barcelona. There was no doubting the pressure was on the Blues' new ownership to act quickly but failing to sign Raphinha from Leeds and Jules Kounde from Sevilla made it seem like the club was not set to go anywhere first without an experience director of football
To an extent, the chase of Miguel Ugarte from Sporting Lisbon felt familiar. A move appeared close with Chelsea seemingly Sporting's favoured destination for the midfielder before the Blues pulled out of the race citing an exhorbitant salary offer from PSG. It is claimed that would have forced the club to pay over the market rate, something they did not want to do.
The latter point has been disputed, but with Chelsea prioritising the signing of a midfielder, the pressure is once again on as the football world now knows they have missed out on a primary target - not something the west London side require, given the reputation for spending they have already garnered in the last 12 months.
